LyokoWarrior94's Code Lyoko:  Unleashed
by LyokoWarrior94
Summary: Well, after the last Siberia mission, you would think the Warriors would finally get a break.  Um, yeah...NO!  And it's all going to start with a bang as Aelita receives a visit from an old friend...  T for the same reasons as my first fic.  To be safe.
1. Episode 123:  Strange Occurrences

Code Lyoko: Unleashed

Season 6

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Code Lyoko! I do own Jacob, Joey, and the other OCs, however.**

**A/N: Welcome to the sixth season of Code: Lyoko. For those of you who haven't read the prior season, I have a catch-up course built in for you; and for those of you who did but need a refresher, same deal. This is the continuation of my Code Lyoko: Reloaded fanfic (Season 5). So, sit back, relax, and enjoy! And, oh, by the way…READ AND REVIEW! Had to get that in there!**

_Previously, on Code: Lyoko…_

"_Ahh!" Aelita screamed as she woke with a start in her dorm, drenched in sweat and shaking from head to toe. The nightmares were back…_

"_I thought I might find you here," Odd said quietly. "Is everything okay, Princess?"_

"_I guess," she replied in a whisper. "I had the nightmares again. I was thinking about my father."_

"_Again? Aelita, are you sure everything's all right?"_

"_I don't know… Something just hasn't felt right ever since we shut off the Supercomputer a couple months ago. Just…like something's been left unfinished."_

"_Aelita…come quickly. Help…me…"_

"_Daddy?" Aelita called out, seeing the words on the screen and instantly feeling a rush of adrenaline._

"_I need you. Hurry…"_

"_I'm coming, Daddy!"_

"_Thank you, Aelita. Now you can rest assured that you have just reawakened your worst nightmare!" As Aelita read these words, she screamed in shock and horror as the Eye of XANA appeared on the screen of the reactivated Supercomputer and XANA returned to life…_

_The rest of the gang raced for the lift when they arrived at the Factory, and when they reached the Laboratory, Jeremy looked at the readouts in horror…_

"_Aelita's being attacked by a Manta! She's in the Tower room, but she's only got 20 life points left!"_

"_Do we need to head for the scanners?" Odd asked._

"_No! No one will make it in time! She's trapped!"_

"_She's falling! AELITA!" Jeremy cried as suddenly…_

_A figure raced out of the Tower and towards the edge as Aelita fell. She thought to herself, "So this is what the end is like…? And I never even got to save Daddy…" Suddenly, she felt a strong grip on her wrist, and she looked up to see a brown-haired boy about Ulrich's age with glasses and in a deep purple bodysuit holding her arm and beginning to pull her up until she was back safely on the path._

"_You didn't think I would let you fall, did you, Princess? Now, don't you have a Tower to deactivate?"_

"_Welcome to Earth, Jacob," she said with a smile. "And before I forget, thank you for saving me!"_

"_So, all in favor of Jacob becoming a Lyoko Warrior?" Jeremy asked. Five hands immediately went up. Jeremy added his, which made six. "That's unanimous. Welcome to the club, Jake!"_

—_Flashback—_

"_Run, Jacob!" a voice screamed from behind him as a shadowy form with glowing red eyes enveloped two people behind him. They were on a Sector almost identical to Lyoko's Forest Sector, but it was dark and shadowed; there was hardly any light… All he could hear were their screams as they were taken, and the last thing he heard was his mother say, "We will always love you…" before they were swallowed up by the darkness…_

"_Mom! Dad! NO!" Jacob screamed as he wheeled around to face the shadowy form, which was solidifying into a young boy with pitch-black clothes and maniacal, glowing red eyes…_

—_End Flashback—_

_Jacob's phone rang, and he took it out and looked at the screen in surprise before excusing himself to answer it. Once he was outside the door, he picked it up._

"_What do you want?" he asked hotly, all traces of his exhaustion and illness instantly gone._

"_I don't even get a hello?__" the staticky voice on the other end hissed sweetly. "__I thought you would want the information I had to give…__"_

"_Why should I believe anything you have to say, __XANA__?" he hissed. "You killed my parents!"_

"_Ah, but that's the point… Come to Lyoko alone. Now. I can give them back to you…__" At this, Jacob stopped cold, and dropped his phone, letting it clatter to the floor. He picked it up and muttered a reply before hanging up and running off. By the time Ulrich opened the door to see what the matter was, Jacob was gone…_

_In Sector Five, Jacob was slowly approaching the Tower room. He looked around, and at first saw nothing before he saw the blue blocks that made up the walls floating down to create a bridge to the Tower, which was suspended in mid-air. Then he watched as red ripples appeared on the outside of the Tower, and a figure walked out of the Tower. It was a young boy, about 12 or 13, wearing a pitch-black bodysuit with red embellishments and the Eye of XANA on the chest. Jacob tensed as he saw his enemy, and XANA's eyes lit up in cruel humor._

"_Oh, come now, I didn't come here to do you any harm," he laughed playfully, his voice as cool and clear as ice. It would have sent chills down Jacob's spine had he been on Earth. "We both know why you're here…" he said, with the faintest hint of a snarl in his voice…_

"_Yeah, we know why I'm here. You took my parents from me. I want them back, XANA!" he hissed as XANA laughed, a sound like none he had ever heard before._

"_That can be arranged…" he growled as his eyes began to glow dark red. The Eye on his chest began to glow as Jacob backed up out of uncertainty. XANA called a stream of smoke from the side wall, and it began to split, forming a wall of Creepers between himself and his prey. A squad of Mantas began to hatch from the walls as well, and in a matter of a few seconds, Jacob was staring in the face a small army. His eyes widened as he realized it had all been a trap… "I killed your parents long ago!" he growled, his voice changing to the distorted pitch that the gang knew so well. "But you eluded me! You have for too long! It's time for me to kill the last person with the ability to get rid of me!" he screamed maniacally. "Monsters, attack!" he commanded as they began to close on Jacob, who closed his eyes and prepared for the end…_

"_Bonzai!" Odd yelled as a volley of Laser Arrows flew from behind Jacob, colliding with a half dozen Creepers and blowing them to bits. An Energy Field and a pair of fans soon followed behind them, taking out a Manta and two more Creepers, and XANA growled in frustration as Aelita, William, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd appeared behind Jacob. Aelita smiled as she placed a hand on Jake's shoulder._

"_You're an idiot," she scolded. "But we would never leave you alone," she added as XANA looked each one of them in the eye._

"_You're all gathered here in one place…this is working out better than I had planned. I'll just take all of you down at once!" he cried as his army of monsters converged on the Warriors again._

"_We'll take the monsters, Jacob; you take care of XANA!" Ulrich yelled as a Creeper fired at him. He dodged the shot and sprinted around it, circling it before stabbing his sabre through its head, destroying it. Odd and Aelita were firing Laser Arrows and energy orbs at the Mantas in an effort to take them down, while Yumi and William were surrounded by a circle of Creepers, which they were working at dispatching. This left only XANA…and Jaocb stared at him for a long moment before he spoke._

"_It's time I settled this!" he cried as he rushed towards XANA. XANA just grinned evilly, and dodged as Jacob fired an Energy Field. He then summoned an orb of black smoke, and returned fire. Jacob barely managed to dodge the orb before he reached XANA and prepared to strike again. XANA just laughed and tripped Jacob, mercifully allowing him time to return to his feet._

"_I have to let you have a bit of a chance," he grinned. "Not that it matters anyways. Look around," he laughed as Jacob saw the monsters beginning to get the upper hand on his friends. He watched this for a moment in horror, and then a wave of rage overtook him, and he felt a surge of energy well up from within…_

"_THAT'S ENOUGH!" he screamed as he summoned his Energy Fields and released a surge of energy from his fingertips, blasting a huge fireball across the room that turned into a firestorm which incinerated XANA's entire army. XANA just turned in shock, and then looked back at Jacob, whose eyes were lit in fury. "This ends now!" he hissed. "You and me," he added as XANA began to chuckle. Jacob looked at his friends, and used his Telepathy to tell them, "__Get out of here! This is my fight!__" Everyone but Aelita backed up and got out of there, but she stayed a moment longer and looked at him sadly before turning and running, leaving Jacob and XANA face-to-face._

"_Protecting your friends; how noble!" XANA hissed as he summoned a stream of smoke from the Data Barrier below. It solidified into a serrated, evil-looking black sword, and over a secure connection, Jeremy said in Jacob's ear, "__The firestorm was incredible! Your powers are far beyond anything I've ever seen before. From what I've found out, you can manipulate your Energy Fields into virtually any weapon you want!__" With this knowledge, Jacob summoned an Energy Field and morphed it until it solidified into a deep purple sword, and he looked at XANA expectantly._

"_It's time," he said simply before charging at XANA, who responded by running in himself. The two foes met in the middle of the pathway and exchanged blows, parrying each other's attacks continuously with the utmost precision and accuracy. Jacob's blade sparked as he blocked a slash by XANA, and he forced XANA's blade back, creating a shower of sparks before XANA was pushed back. Both adversaries panted in exhaustion before readying themselves one more time. XANA ran at Jacob, but Jacob twisted to the side just enough to send XANA crashing past him, and he fired a perfectly placed Energy Field which hit XANA's leg and sent him tumbling to the ground. Jacob was over him in an instant, holding the tip of his sword to XANA's throat. As he prepared to deliver the finishing blow, he hesitated, and in that instant, XANA saw weakness in his eyes. He laughed, and as he turned into a smoky cloud and flew towards the Data Barrier below them, Jacob heard him whisper, "__You're weak, you coward. You couldn't bring yourself to do it!__" and in that moment, Jacob dropped to his knees and did something that should have been impossible on Lyoko. He cried…_

_Aelita looked up, and then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a movement in the entrance to the corridor nearest her, and she saw Jacob sprint in just as the Manta fired at her one last time…_

"_AELITA!" Jacob screeched as the laser hit her in the chest and knocked her off the side._

"_Jacob…I'm sorry…" she said sadly before she disappeared from his view…_

_Jeremy and the others looked in horror at what was happening, and Jeremy's fist shook as he clenched it, pounding it on the desk as he realized there was nothing he could do…_

"_NO!" Jacob screamed as he ran to the edge of the floor and tried to fire an Energy Field off in time…_

"_No…" Jeremy whispered as tears began to stream down his and the gang's faces…_

_But it was too late as Jacob watched his energy orb hit empty space, and his throat closed up as he dropped to his knees and retched when he saw the beam of light shoot up from below…_

"_NOOOOOO!" he screeched in unimaginable fury and pain as he felt nothing but absolute fury pulse through his veins. He got up and wheeled around as he closed his eyes, and when they reopened, they were glowing as white as snow…_

"_We're out of time! He's going to destroy Lyoko!" Jeremy screeched to the others as they tried a last ditch effort to save their friend…_

"_Remember!" she whispered in his ear as she began to glow with a pinkish aura. She used her psychic abilities to transmit memories into Jacob's head…_

"_Ungh…" Jacob moaned as all the memories pierced his consciousness. All of a sudden, the glow began to fade from his eyes and the white aura faded from around him. Yumi looked into Jacob's eyes, and the last of the glow faded as his eyes returned to normal. He moaned something inaudible before swaying and passing out in Yumi's arms. She held him there for a few moments before speaking aloud:_

"_Jeremy, he's okay…"_

"_Jacob, you won't be able to go back to Lyoko until your powers are under control…" Jeremy said._

"_Okay…" Jacob replied softly._

"_Class, we have a new student. This is Marth Kodji…" Principal Delmas said as Marth smiled._

"_So this is your secret…" a familiar voice from behind Jeremy and Jacob said. Jacob whirled around to see Marth standing behind them, looking around with a curious and yet hurt look on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe his new friends would keep something this big from him._

"_Marth…" Jacob started, but then stopped, unsure of what to say._

"_Well, with XANA picking up his attacks again, and Kadic not stopping for us, I think everyone will agree with me when I say we need someone else in our group to help us fight. That way, not all of us ever have to go at any one time to stop a XANA attack," Jeremy explained. "Marth, I know it's a bit sudden, but if everyone agrees, would you want to join our group?"_

"_Absolutely!" he exclaimed in reply. "I want to help you guys save the world!"_

"_Jeremy, Aelita and I came across a Restricted Access file deep in the Interface Memory. I'm going to send it to you."_

"_It's going to take me a while to crack the lock on this file. But it does intrigue me. The subscript says "Property of the KGB" at the bottom of the cover sheet."_

"_This file…which was compiled and saved by the Men in Black…is regarding and detailing information on one…Antea Hopper…" he finally said, and the pin dropped as everyone in the room looked at him in disbelief._

"_You mean…"_

"_My mother…" Aelita whispered. "She could still be out there…"_

"_This letter was sent after Daddy finished the Scanners and the programming for Lyoko. This means…that my mother was still alive after we arrived on Lyoko! There's still hope!" she cried in relief._

"_The file's ready. We can crack its secrets! The only catch is, I'll have to activate a Tower for my program to work, and I need you guys to defend it!"_

"_NO!" Jacob screamed as XANA began to download all the information of Antea's file from the Tower and destroy it piece by piece. Aelita watched in total shock and unrivaled horror as all of their hard work disappeared before her eyes. Once XANA had destroyed it all, the Tower's glow changed, and it returned to white as the screens faded. Aelita shakily walked over to the Interface and accessed it, hoping to find any scrap of information that had been missed…_

"_It's all gone…" she whispered in a choked voice. "There's nothing…"_

"_William's lost in the Digital Sea…Yumi and Odd are fighting a war for the Core they can't win…and there's another Tower active to boot…we can't be in three places at once, and even if Aelita goes on without William and deactivates the first Tower, the second one will still keep the destruction going…XANA's finally beaten us…we're out of options…"_

"_You called me here," Jacob said insistently. "You must have had a plan…"_

"_Maybe…but it's a long shot…" Jeremy said in a whisper. "Take the controls. I'm going to Lyoko," he said. "I'm the only hope we have at deactivating the other Tower and even having a chance…" he said, trailing off as an idea shot through Jacob's head and he looked intently at Jeremy._

"_Send me…" he said…_

"_Jacob, I was meaning to ask you. Was what XANA said true? Did you really have control of your powers?" Jacob just looked at him for a moment and then it clicked in his head._

"_Oh…yes, I did," he nodded, and Aelita and Marth smiled while Jeremy's eyes showed relief and thankfulness that Jake would be able to go back and continue fighting on Lyoko…_

"_We have a student returning to us, Taelia Winthrop…" Delmas said as Jeremy's gaze burned with fury…_

"_Hello, Taelia…" he said in an icy-cool voice that sent a chill up Taelia's spine._

"_How…how do you know my name…?" she asked in a stutter as he smiled knowingly._

"_Let's just say I've been watching you…even before you came here, my dear…" he said calmly as he gazed softly at her. She shivered at this comment, but settled slightly when he brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and whispered, "Shh…I know the pain you've been suffering…the hurt…the insults…the heartache… You don't deserve it, my dear…" He paused as a tear dripped down her cheek. "I haven't said anything to upset you, have I?" he asked, and she shook her head._

"_No…not at all…" she replied through muffled sobs. "It's just…I was thinking about everything…"_

"_I know…I know what you've endured. No one, especially a beautiful girl like yourself, deserves the torment that those heartless geeks have put you through…" As he trailed off, Taelia slowly nodded._

"_I hate them…" she whispered. "They treated me like trash when I was at Kadic before…especially Belpois. And that new kid they've become friends with seems to be just the same. I could see it in his eyes; he had no welcome for me, only disgust. I'm tired of being thrown aside and stepped on like I don't matter…"_

"_Oh, but you do matter, my dear, and don't you forget that. I sympathize with you…I too have been fighting Jeremy and his little gang for a long time, and I've been treated in a similar way to how they are treating you now… Is it revenge you want?" he asked, and after a long moment of consideration, Taelia nodded._

"_Yes…" she whispered harshly, her voice becoming steely. "I want to make them pay for disrespecting me…" she hissed. The boy nodded and looked into her eyes one more time._

"_I can give you all the power to do what you want, and more…"_

"_Have you thought about what I said…? Do you still want your revenge?" He had barely finished the last word when Taelia looked up with a steely glint in her eyes and met his cold gaze easily._

"_Yes," she said without hesitation. "I want the power you promised. I want to take Jeremy and his friends down. For good," she added in a hiss as the boy's grin widened. "But first, tell me your name. I never caught it before," she added as he nodded._

"_My name…is XANA. And you have made a wise choice, my dear…"_

"_I have some amazing news!" he grinned as he pulled up the file that Jacob had found in his search of the cabin Supercomputer. "Watch this…" he said as he played the video file…_

_The screen went static for a moment before reverting to black, and then a fuzzy image gradually grew sharper as an overhead shot of the entrance to the Siberian lab came into view… Everything looked quiet, until some faint shouting could be heard, and the door burst open as a guard in a black suit exploded out of it into the snow, dragging a chained, blindfolded, and gagged figure along behind him. He shoved the figure down into the snow, and then proceeded to beat it, slamming punches and kicks into the trembling body. When he had finished attacking the figure, he finally pulled the sack covering its head off, and all that you could see for a moment was a flash of bright pink hair before the face turned to the camera…and a woman's face could be seen as Jeremy paused the video, zooming in on the face and enhancing the image as he did so… As the image sharpened, even though the face was older than he had seen it before, Jacob's mouth fell open, and Ulrich dropped to a knee in total shock. Aelita just shook as William and Marth laid a hand each on her shoulder to comfort her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing…it must be a mistake…_

"_That's not possible…" Aelita whispered as she looked at her mother's face on the screen. "No way…" she reaffirmed as Jeremy pointed to the bottom corner of the video._

"_But look at the time stamp of this security footage," he said as Aelita's eyes gazed at the date and time, and she just broke down in tears when she saw it. Jacob just hugged her and told her to breathe, that it was all right as Jeremy continued. "That's no trick. This video was taken less than twenty-four hours ago. Aelita…your mom's still alive…" he finished in a quiet, choked whisper as she cried, maybe in joy, disbelief, or fear… Jacob just looked up with a steely glint in his eyes as Marth nodded and spoke._

"_Then we have to bring her home. It's our mission now," he said simply as Jacob nodded._

"_Yeah," he agreed. "And now we know where we're going to find her," he added as the gang, save for Aelita, who was still crying into Jeremy's shoulder, looked up expectantly at him. "We're going back to Siberia, gang…"_

_Aelita panted as she ran for the door handle and opened the door with a clatter, racing in and looking furiously around until her eyes came to rest on a disheveled, grimy, pink-haired figure on the ground in front of her, chained to the wall. She looked up with gaunt eyes at the two seemingly spectral figures in front of her, and her jaw fell open when she laid eyes on Aelita, unable to believe that this was actually happening…_

"_Aelita…?" she choked out in a raspy voice._

"_Mom…" Aelita said with a tear in her eye as she rushed forward and hugged her mother for the first time in years, and cried tears of joy, knowing she had family once again…_

"_Jeremy! Prep the programs! We're coming home!" Jacob said in relief and joy as Aelita hugged her mother. "It's time…at long last…" she thought to herself…_

_Back in the Scanner Room, everyone had gathered expectantly around the three Scanners, and the doors opened and Jacob came out first in a cloud of steam and smiled, high-fiving the guys and hugging Jeremy as Aleita too came out of her Scanner and hugged Jeremy, knowing that she was finally home. But the biggest moment was yet to come as the entire gang huddled around the last Scanner, waiting for Antea. The doors slowly opened, and standing there…_

…_was Antea, looking more alive than she had since they had rescued her. All Aelita could do was burst into tears as she ran forward and hugged her mother, amidst the cheets of the entire gang. Jeremy looked on proudly as Aelita whispered two words to her mom…_

"_Welcome home…"_

_As she said this, Jacob looked at his watch and read 3:00. He looked at it slowly, and then smiled as he looked up and around at the group. Odd caught this and saw the smile on Jake's face, and asked:_

"_What is it, Einstein?" Jacob just grinned as he showed them his watch and what time it was. Odd looked back at him with a puzzled look, and Jacob smacked his forehead in mock exasperation._

"_The last bell just rang at Kadic. It's officially summer…" he said as the whole gang burst into wide smiles at the fact that they now had time to get their lives in order, especially Aelita, who could not stop smiling as she buried herself in her mother's arms again._

"_This is truly home now…" she thought to herself as she let out a small laugh. Time to start living…_

**Episode 123: Strange Occurrences (1)**

Three months had passed since the end of the gang's last mission in Siberia, and there had been no XANA attacks to speak of in that time. Over the summer break, Aelita and her mom had gotten to work repairing the Hermitage so that it could be lived in again, and with the whole gang helping, it was looking like a home again. All the while, she had been feverishly keeping a lookout for her father, hoping that maybe, they would eventually find him and bring him home. Antea had to adopt her daughter, because of the last-name thing (Odd's cousin and all…) but Jeremy had fixed the paperwork for that. Odd, Ulrich, and Marth had gone away for part of the summer, and were back just in time for classes to resume. Odd got a shock when he heard that Sam was transferring in to be a full-year student at Kadic. Ulrich was getting along a little better with his dad, and his grades were better than they had been in a long time. He and Yumi were still going steady, and William was still hoping that Yumi would eventually change her mind and choose him. Jeremy had been taking summer classes with Jacob, and the two brainiacs were continually upgrading things on Lyoko for the gang. But all eight of them knew that school was about to start; and XANA would not be quiet forever…

Aelita blinked and sat up in her bed as she gazed around her room at the Academy. She put a hand to her forehead and felt no sweat or heat. She couldn't believe it. It was the first time since she had been materialized that she had not been plagued with the nightmares. She sighed in relief and slowly got up to go through her normal morning activities…

A little while later, she entered the cafeteria and grabbed a plate, looking around as she did so. It was odd; everything for once seemed to be at peace. Sam was sitting with a group of her friends, and had hung around some with the group, but not a ton as of yet. Odd was of course, still drooling over her. William and Marth were leaned over discussing something quietly, and Jeremy was buried in his laptop screen. Aelita just smiled as she looked around and saw Ulrich and Yumi join the gang at their usual table. As Aelita scanned back across the cafeteria, she saw a flash of jet-black and blue-streaked hair, and she stopped cold as she tried to get a glimpse of the face it belonged to…

"_Something's not right…_" she thought. "_Could it be…?_" She sighed as she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Jacob had gotten up from the table to come over and check on her.

"You okay, Princess?" he asked, his voice full of concern. "You looked really lost…" Aelita just blinked before his words really sunk in and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just…thought I saw someone I knew…" she muttered as Jacob frowned.

"That's strange…" he murmured. "Bad or good?" he asked instinctively as Aelita sighed again and looked up at him.

"Not sure…" she replied distantly as her mind drifted off to broken memories of her past…

—_Flashback—_

"_Aelita! Hurry up!" a young boy yelled playfully as Aelita ran to catch up with him. She saw him run ahead but let out a small "Oof!" as she hit something solid. She fell to the ground and looked up to see her father staring gently down at her._

"_Now Aelita…" he chided gently. "You and Hunter need to be just a bit more careful…" he said with the faintest trace of a smile as another pair of adults walked into the room and looked over at Hunter, who was standing next to Aelita now. "Remember, we're working in here…" he reminded them gently, gesturing to Hunter's parents, who nodded._

"_Just watch the technology in here, you two…" Hunter's mom said. "We don't need any accidents…"_

"_We'll be careful," Aelita chirped as she took Hunter's hand and ran off as Antea watched from the desk seat of the nearby Supercomputer._

"_Kids will be kids…" she said softly as Aelita's laughter could be heard echoing through the nearby rooms…_

—_End Flashback—_

Later, in Mrs. Hertz's class…

"Class, first off; congratulations on becoming 9th graders. I'm sure for some of you, the process was not as easy as for others, but for all of you sitting here, good job to you. Now, today we are going to look at electromagnetism. But first, I would like to introduce a new student. This is Maverick Ryan Hunter…"

"Hunter," he said as he brushed a strand of black hair out of his eyes. Jeremy and Aelita turned around to see a face they had not noticed enter the classroom. Hunter was a boy just about the same age as Jeremy, and taller than Ulrich or Odd. He had striking, jet-black hair with jagged, neon-blue streaks in it, and piercing blue eyes that looked as if they could bore right through you. He looked around at the class, and it was strange looking back at him because he bore this emotionless, unreadable expression on his face; one that seemed like it could see straight into your soul. Aelita froze up when his gaze landed on her, and Jeremy saw her tense up. As she turned back to her notes, Jeremy laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered quietly, "You okay?" She turned her head slightly and looked at him with a faint flash in her eyes as she responded.

"I'm fine," she snapped, in that tone that said to Jeremy everything definitely was not fine. But, Jeremy knew better than to press the issue either, especially if she was agitated or worried over something.

"Alright…" he said softly as he turned back to his notebook. "_She must have just been reminded of an old memory, that's all…_" he thought to himself as Aelita continued to write furiously, her hand shaking slightly as she tried to block the memory flashes she was having out of her mind…

About halfway through the class, Aelita was still incessantly worrying about the new student sitting behind her. "_He looks so similar to someone I used to know…_" she thought to herself as she started to open her binder. As she did, she felt a sharp gaze piercing her neck, and she turned around to see Hunter staring intently at her, his eyes shimmering as Aelita's flashbacks pierced her thoughts even more persistently. She cried out as she felt a sharp pain in her temple, and as she turned back around, she slumped to the floor as the flashes became too overwhelming. "_What's happening to me…?_" she asked as she heard Jeremy's voice, rising in panic, over her head, but it was distant and far away as her vision swam in front of her and she succumbed to the visions dancing behind her eyelids…

That afternoon…

"Unh…" Aelita groaned as she held her head in her hands and tried to sit up. The pain in her head was blinding, and she sat for a few minutes, not opening her eyes, before blinking slowly, and no more had she done that than her eyes flew open like camera shutters. She looked around and found herself in the Forest Sector, sitting almost in the exact spot where she had last seen her father. She noticed this, and got up slowly, her head swiveling and snapping around to scope out her surroundings. When she saw nothing, her gaze flitted back to the Tower, in time for its aura to change from white to silver, and all of a sudden, she saw a sparkle of light from below her as a brilliantly gleaming orb of light rose from the Digital Sea below to float in front of her on the green pathway. Aelita gaped as she laid eyes on her father for the first time in a long time…and she was struck speechless, unable to make coherent sentences due to her shock. She heard her father's deep laughter ring in her head, and she looked up to see the orb in front of her sparkling in amusement.

"_It's so good to see you again, my darling…_" Franz said as Aelita looked up at him, eyes sparkling with tears. "_I had hoped I would find you again…_"

"Daddy, I missed you!" she said in a choked sob as he floated closer to her, almost near enough for her to touch him, but not quite.

"_I know…and I'm sorry…the only person we have to blame for that is XANA…_"

"Does this mean you can come home…?" Aelita asked quietly as Franz…well…if an orb can shake its head, he did just that…

"_No…I'm still on the run…XANA still wants me eliminated…permanently…_" he said softly as all of a sudden, a smoke orb came an inch from impacting Franz, who floated out of the way in a hurry. "_Aelita, he's coming! I have to go! Be safe, my darling!_" Franz said as he flew off and disappeared into the Digital Sea, leaving Aelita to sink to her knees as her vision swam with tears. All of a sudden, everything was cast into a dark haze as she heard XANA whisper, "_I will find him…and then I'll destroy all of you…_" before everything went black again…

"Ungh!" Aelita groaned as she shot up straight, her eyes burning as she felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She took a ragged breath as she looked around to try and ascertain where she was. As her vision slowly came into focus, she saw the walls of the infirmary around her, and she looked down to see a white sheet over her legs. She sighed shakily as she realized it had all been a dream… "_But it seemed so real…_" she thought to herself as she saw a flicker of movement from a chair in the corner of the room, and she squinted through the darkness to make out the rumpled hair and purple jacket that told her Jacob was sitting in the chair, fast asleep. She smiled as she tried to shift under the sheets, but the bed creaked, and she froze in surprise as she saw Jacob's head shoot up and his eyes blink right open. "_He is a light sleeper…_" she thought as he looked blearily at her.

"I was worried about you…" he said softly as he got up and pulled the chair over to the side of her bed. "You passed out in class this morning…" he murmured softly as Aelita remembered bits and pieces of what had happened in Mrs. Hertz's class.

"Was it embarrassing…?" she asked in a whisper, with the faintest tinge of a blush on her cheeks as Jacob laughed quietly.

"No, we were all just really worried about you…" he replied softly as he laid a hand on top of Aelita's. "What happened?" he asked as she sighed deeply.

"I…it's weird, last night was the first night I've slept peacefully since I came to Earth…and today I kept having all these weird visions…"

"Did they have anything to do with that new kid?" he asked suddenly as Aelita nodded after a moment.

"Yes…it's so weird…he reminds me so much of someone I used to know…from my childhood…" she added after a moment as Jacob's eyes flashed in surprise. "An old friend…" she said slowly as Jacob squeezed her hand gently.

"Are you sure?" he asked as she shook her head, her thoughts clouded by everything that had gone on…

"No…I'm not sure…" she whispered softly… "I don't know if I'm sure about anything right now…" she said softly as Jacob sighed and hugged her.

"Calm down, Princess…It'll be okay…" he murmured as she shivered in his arms. He straightened back up and looked at her with concern in his eyes. "For now, I suggest you try and avoid this Maverick guy…"

"He said his name was Hunter, didn't he?" Aelita asked as Jacob scoffed.

"Whatever he wants to call himself. Anyways, he seems really taken, or at least intrigued, by you, and I'm looking out for you; Jeremy and I both are. We think that it's best you avoid him until we can learn a little more about him. For your own good, so something like today doesn't happen again…" he said, trailing off as he got up and hugged Aelita again. "Get some rest, if you can," he added. "I'll see you in the morning…" he finished softly as he walked to the door and closed it softly, leaving Aelita to try and fall back to sleep…

The next morning…

Aelita yawned as she woke up in the infirmary and walked over to the window, opening the curtain a hair and letting the sunlight wash over her as she thought about what had gone on yesterday. "_There's more to this that I need to know…_" she thought to herself as she thanked the Nurse and headed back to her room to clean up and get ready for the day ahead…

She put on her favorite pink top and skirt and walked down to the cafeteria to join the others. Jacob smiled as he scooted over to make room for her between he and Jeremy. She smiled softly and sat down between them, and Odd and Ulrich looked at her with worry in their eyes.

"Princess, you doing okay?" Odd asked as she nodded slowly and smiled faintly. "You gave us all quite a scare yesterday…" he added as she smiled and brushed a hand in front of her face.

"It's over now; I'm fine," she smiled. "Just some weird headache, that's all," she answered as Jacob turned around and saw Hunter passing by, his gaze fixed squarely on Aelita's back as Jacob looked up and glared at him. Hunter's ice-blue eyes caught this glare, and he quickly snapped his head around and kept walking, though Jacob could sense that his focus was still on the pinkette as he walked over to another table and sat down, choosing to eat alone. Jacob just shook his head as he turned back around to rejoin the conversation. Just as he did, the bell rang, and he jumped in surprise.

"Jacob, it's just the bell…calm down!" Marth chuckled as the gang parted ways with Yumi and William at the crossroads and headed to their next class, Math (ugh)…

As they approached the Math building, Aelita felt a buzzing in her bag, and paused as Jeremy, Jacob, and the others kept walking, not noticing that she had stopped. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and ducked into the shadows, opening it and scrolling quickly through the screens until she came to the SuperScan. She barely even needed to look at it, already knowing what she would find as she scanned its contents.

"Crap…activated Tower…" she grunted under her breath as she ducked through the shadows and into the woods, making her way to the park sewer entrance… "_No one else needs to know…_" she thought as she ran through the trees…

From a distance, Hunter watched all of this take place with knowing curiosity, and as Aelita took off quietly for the woods, he waited a moment before following her. "_I can follow her without being discovered if I'm careful…_" he thought to himself as he went through the path in his mind…

In the Math class, Jeremy took his seat, and looked at the empty seat next to him in puzzlement. "_Aelita's never late for class…and she was right there with us…_" he thought as the Math Teacher came in and began taking attendance while the rest of the gang got out their notebooks.

"Stones?" he said when he came to Aelita's name.

"Uh…she's not here, sir…she…had to go back to the infirmary," Jeremy said quickly, breathing a mental sigh of relief. "_Where in the world could she be…?_" he thought as the math teacher continued to take attendance.

"Hunter?" he asked when he came to Maverick's name. Jeremy's head shot up and he looked around, expecting to see the flash of blue and black hair in the classroom, but it was not there. "_Crap…_" Jeremy thought, now beginning to worry. "_He's trying to find her again…_"

Aelita panted as she lifted the manhole cover off of the sewer entrance and ducked down into the tunnel, closing the hole behind her as she climbed down the ladder. She looked around, having this strange prickling in her stomach that something wasn't quite right as she grabbed her scooter from the side of the pathway and beginning to roll along the tunnels. She followed the path that they always took to get to the Factory, and was soon upon the ladder that led up to the Factory Bridge. She slowly climbed it, getting to the top and running along the bridge and through the gaping doorway of the Factory. She paused; as none of the Warriors had set foot in the place for three months…and looked down to see a set of fresh footprints in the dust on the concrete floor. "_This is getting really, really weird…_" she thought as she felt that same uncanny sensation that she was being watched prick the back of her neck again. She brushed it aside and headed for the elevator, but stopped when she thought of the fact that someone could already be in the Factory. "_I'll take the stairs…_" she thought to herself as she made her way towards the central stairwell…

It took a couple minutes longer, but Aelita finally made it down the stairwell and to the corridor that led into the Computer Lab. She ran quietly forward and came into the glow of the screens, but she stopped cold when she saw someone already sitting in the Supercomputer chair…

Hunter finished tapping a command code into the Supercomputer, and then turned around as Aelita watched the alert for the activated Tower disappear from the screen. He saw this out of the corner of his eye, and smiled softly as he shook his messy black hair out of his eyes and cast his transfixing gaze on Aelita. She looked at him, dumbfounded first at how he had found the Factory, and second at his knowledge of the Supercomputer. And yet, she could not look away as she looked into his eyes, the eyes that she felt she knew as the memory flashes invaded her consciousness again. The end of her nightmares, the arrival of a new student who looked so much like her childhood friend, and now is knowledge of Lyoko and deactivating the Tower… "_That settles it,_" Aelita thought before opening her mouth and saying one word, maybe out of shock or instinct, she wasn't sure which…

"Hunter…" she said softly to the dark-haired boy, who got up and smiled knowingly as he faced her for the first time…

LW94: And so Season 6 has officially begun…I do have to apologize about the lack of action, but I promise, I'm only getting warmed up here! Read and Review!

Next time:

**Episode 124: An Old Friend (2)**

As Hunter's appearance is explained, XANA returns with a bang, and a plot to wipe out the whole gang, next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	2. Episode 124:  An Old Friend

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Code Lyoko! I do own my OCs, however.**

**A/N: Guys, I am so sorry this took so long for me to write. I've been roadblocked until about 2 hours ago today and had no idea how to proceed until now. For those of you that have been patient enough to not forget about me, THANK YOU! This chapter is for YOU! READ AND REVIEW!**

**Episode 124: An Old Friend (2)**

As Aelita stared into Hunter's startling blue eyes, she saw a mysterious gaze looking back at her, as though he was looking past her and did not care, and yet cared more than the world about the girl standing in front of him. She saw pain, heartache, longing, and maybe…relief? She couldn't tell for sure. As he continued looking at her with that same enigmatic gaze, she blinked quickly and cleared her throat before she spoke again, choosing her words very, very carefully…

"Only one color, but not one size; stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies. Present in sun, but not in rain; doing no harm and feeling no pain. What am I?" Aelita asked as Hunter smiled.

"You are a shadow. My turn," he replied as he closed his eyes in thought. "I never was, but am always to be; have never been seen, and yet never will be. And yet I am still the confidence of all, to live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?" Hunter asked as Aelita closed her eyes for a brief moment and then opened them and grinned for a fleeting moment.

"You are tomorrow," she replied with a knowing sparkle in her eye as Hunter nodded and relaxed his shoulders, sighing before he spoke again.

"Now, no more games; what is your real name, Ms. Stones?" Hunter asked as Aelita's eyes flashed.

"As if you don't already know?" she fired back, though in a tone that relayed to Hunter that she was not serious about her comment. Hunter smirked and chuckled for a moment before Aelita let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and spoke seven words she never thought she would use again. "My real name…is Aelita Athena Schaeffer," she finally sighed, using her full name for the first time in years. "That poses the obvious question; what is _your_ name, Mr. Hunter?"

"My real name is Michael Jason Hunter," he replied as he gave Aelita an enigmatic smile and slowly continued. "Nicknamed Maverick, but called Hunter, not only because of my last name, but in memory of my father," he replied as his eyes glittered for a moment before he regained his composure. Aelita nodded, knowing that they had both passed the test their parents had given them many years ago in order to safeguard against any imposters. Aelita hesitated for a moment, and then walked over and embraced Hunter, who smiled as he blinked back tears of relief. They broke apart and just stared at each other for a moment, remembering flashes of lifetimes past. They were both children of parents who were a part of Project Carthage; Aelita, of course, daughter of Franz and Antea; Maverick Hunter the son of James Apollo Hunter, the communications expert on the Project Carthage team, and Dawn Grace Hunter, his wife and the weapons specialist on the Project Carthage team. Their parents had known each other shortly before Project Carthage began, and the two of them (Aelita and Hunter) had become exceptionally close friends while their parents worked on the project. Aelita knew that Maverick's parents had disappeared shortly after her own mother did, and after her father took her away to keep her safe from the Men in Black, she had not seen Hunter again…not until today, anyways…

"Hunter…how…how did you find me?" she asked in disbelief as he nodded slowly.

"I received word from your mother shortly after you and your friends freed her from the Siberian Research Lab, and came here through the World Network. I'll get to that part in a minute," he added, waving a hand in front of him to shush Aelita as he continued. "I know you're also probably wondering how I look no older than you, and the answer to that is the same reason for me as it is for you. I, until about 18 months ago, was in hiding within another prototype of the virtual world software that our parents helped create; similar, in fact, to the prototype that was completed by your father in the bunker underneath his Mountain Cabin just before your mother and my parents vanished. I was hiding for the same reason as you and your father: XANA. Plain and simple. He knows that we are the only ones with the ability and information to finish him once and for all, and he wanted me dead just as much as he wanted you dead. So I went into deep hiding; so deep that I all but cut off power to the Supercomputer my parents had been building. My virtual world was unfinished, but it was stable enough to sustain me inside of it and keep me out of XANA's clutches. Unfortunately, that didn't last forever, and about a year and a half ago XANA finally found my virtual world and infiltrated it. I sent out a distress signal and tried to hold him off, but couldn't do it on my own. That was when…"

"My father stepped in?" she asked, to which Maverick shook his head in reply.

"No," he replied as Aelita shot him a puzzled look. "XANA just…disappeared. It was like all of his power was being drained, and I watched as he was pulled away from my world, the world that had been my home for almost a decade. I didn't know what had happened then, but now…now I do."

"Yes. We launched a multi-agent system that all but wiped XANA out; we just made one tiny mistake…" she replied as Maverick scoffed and shook his head.

"No, you didn't," he answered. "The multi-agent system that you used had one tiny flaw that neither your parents nor mine were ever able to rectify. It was unable to disinfect its origination point when it was used. It's not that you made a mistake; it's that the multi-agent system was not designed to destroy XANA completely because the program originated from Lyoko. Your theory was spot-on; that the reason XANA wasn't destroyed is because Lyoko was not included in the program's range, but that happened because Lyoko _couldn't_ be included in that range." At this, Aelita sighed and her eyes showed some glimmer of relief and satisfaction. Jeremy hadn't made a mistake at all! "_Oh, I can't wait to tell him!_" she thought joyfully as she sighed again.

"You said my mom called you here?" she asked suddenly as Hunter nodded.

"She did so for two reasons. One: to make sure that I was safe. Two: so that I can aid you in the fight against XANA." Hunter paused as he smiled. "I lied. There is a third reason, and this is probably the most important one…" he added, pausing for dramatic effect as Aelita stared intently at him. "The third reason…is because I know where your father is." He let this sink in as Aelita stared blankly at him. After a long silence, she opened her mouth slowly and said the only three words that came to mind.

"That's not possible…" she whispered as Hunter nodded again. "I mean…he's still on the run. XANA still wants him dead too…how on earth did you manage to find him when even _I_ couldn't do it?" she asked in a tear-choked voice. Hunter just nodded solemnly and squeezed her hand as she let a couple of tears roll down her face.

"It wasn't all me. Your mom has been working just as hard as you have since you rescued her to find him. All it took was some resources I had from my Supercomputer to perfect your tracking program…"

"What? My idea worked?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, Aelita, and she knew it would; it just took the right programming. Programming that my parents had at their disposal in our Supercomputer. So she and I just tweaked your program a little bit, and now it's completely running. We know where your dad is." Aelita wanted to jump for joy at this news, but she kept the cheering in her head to a minimum as she smiled a beaming grin at Hunter.

"That's unbelievable…" she said softly. "So…where is he?" she asked.

"Oh, I knew you would ask that…" Hunter said grimly as he sighed. "He's managed to lock himself in a Restricted Access file deep in the core of Lyoko. And he's got so many security protocols locking him in that I don't know how in the world we're going to get him out. But you can rest assured, Aelita, that he is safe. There's no way that XANA can get to him…" At this, Aelita sighed. She had been doing a lot of that in the past few minutes, she realized. But this sigh was purely out of gratefulness and relief that her father was safe. She didn't care where he was or how long it would take to rescue him; just knowing that he was safe was enough for her. As Hunter got up and walked towards the Lift, Aelita followed slowly behind, waiting till they were outside the Factory and heading back to Kadic before she spoke again.

"Hunter, how much of this can I tell to Jeremy and the others?" she asked quietly. He stopped and took a deep breath, exhaling powerfully as he thought quickly.

"If I were you, I wouldn't tell them anything about my involvement, _yet._ When the time is right, we'll cross that bridge," he added as Aelita nodded. She parted ways with Hunter before they emerged from the woods, heading back to her dorm as class had ended a few minutes earlier, and there were no more classes for the day. She quietly slipped up to her dorm, and she opened the door to a not-very-happy looking face…

"Well, well, well…the lost has been found," a frustrated Jeremy said as her eyes widened, but she said nothing as she set her things down and closed the door behind her.

An hour later…

"Are you crazy?" Jeremy screeched as Aelita just sat there calmly and took the lashing without any emotion showing on her face, not even a glitter in her eye. "We. Don't. Trust. _HIM_," Jeremy enunciated, putting all his stress on the last word and glaring at her. She still just sat there, a stoic look on her features as Jeremy finally noticed the odd silence and looked slowly at her. "Aelita? Are you going to say anything?" he asked slowly as the familiar frustrated glitter finally returned to her gaze and she stood up quickly, tears glittering in her eyes as she spoke.

"Maybe _you_ don't trust him, Jeremy! But you could give him a chance!" she hissed as she whirled around quickly and stormed out of her dorm, slamming the door behind her.

"Aelita! Aelita, wait!" Jeremy said as he got up to run after her, but it was too late. She had already gone, and Jeremy just sank to his knees in frustration and submission. "I'm such an idiot…"

Aelita stormed through the woods with tears running down her face until she reached the Hermitage. She ran blindly up the stairs until she reached her room and just sank down on her bed sobbing at the unfairness of it all. Jeremy had disrespected her best friend…someone she had known even before she ever met him or the gang…and she wasn't going to have any of that. Her sobs slowly subsided into shudders that racked her body as she struggled to breathe deeply, never noticing that someone had knelt down next to her…

"I thought I might find you here…" Jacob said softly as Aelita let out a small choked cry and looked up through blurred eyes at him. She blinked and let out a wry chuckle through her sobs as Jacob just shushed her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a gentle embrace. "Shh…"he whispered. "What happened, Princess…?"

"Jeremy…" she whispered as she shivered. "He…he's got this paranoid streak going and he…he's not acting like himself. He seems to think that Hunter's some kind of enemy and I have no business being around him…and it's just…URGH!" she growled in frustration as Jacob nodded and brushed a tear from her eye.

"You say that as if you know better…" he added. "Care to elaborate?" he asked with that knowing glimmer in his eye as Aelita sighed and slowly nodded.

"Hunter…he's an old friend of mine…his parents worked on Project Carthage with my mom and dad…that is, until it fell all to pieces…" she said slowly as Jacob's eyes widened in surprise.

"So…he…he knows?" he asked after a moment. "About everything?"

"Lyoko, XANA, all of it," she nodded. "But he asked me not to say anything for now. I trust you though…" she said softly. "I always have."

"I know, Princess," Jacob smiled as he hugged her again. "Come on, let's go back to the school," he said as he helped her up slowly…

Back at Kadic that evening…

"I'm worried…Aelita hasn't come back yet and I'm starting to panic…" Jeremy muttered as he picked at his dinner, which had long since gone cold. "I treated her so badly earlier…"

"Jeremy, just apologize to her…" Yumi said softly as she laid a hand on his, which was twitching madly in nervousness. "She'll forgive you…" she said softly as the dorm door opened and Jeremy looked up to see Jacob, Hunter and Aelita standing in the doorway. His mouth dropped open for a moment but he quickly composed himself and kept his frustration in check as Aelita spoke.

"Can we come in, Jeremy?" she asked softly as he nodded. The trio entered softly and Aelita sat down on the bed next to Jeremy, who made it a point not to flinch, but took her hand and whispered, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry, Jeremy," Aelita countered gently as she looked over at Hunter. "For keeping secrets from you." At this, Jeremy's eyes widened and he began to tear up and Aelita quickly caught her blunder. "Not like that! No, no, no, no, no, not like that…" she whispered as she squeezed his hand gently. "I meant the fact that we have no reason to be wary of Hunter. He's a friend…" she said as Jeremy looked up to meet the boy's icy gaze.

"Really? And how do you know _that_?" Jeremy spat in frustration as Jacob glared at him.

"Watch it, Einstein…let her finish," he said with a steely undertone as Aelita nodded gratefully and continued.

"The reason I know is because his parents worked on Project Carthage with my mom and dad…he and I have known each other since we were little kids…" she explained, and as that pin dropped, everyone but Jacob and Maverick looked on in shock as their respective jaws dropped. "He was trapped in virtual space just as I was…hence why he's the same age as we are. He knows about everything: XANA, Lyoko, all of it. He's here to help. And…he knows where my father is," she finished, and with that revelation, Jeremy couldn't help but gasp in shock as he tried desperately to pick his jaw up off the floor. "Oh, stop gaping, Jeremy, it's not that impressive. Our ideas were spot-on; they didn't have the programming to do it on our own. Hunter did and used that to finish the coding for the tracker."

"And by the way, Jeremy," Hunter interjected, speaking for the first time, "you were right. The reason XANA wasn't totally destroyed is because Lyoko wasn't included in the multi-agent system's range, but that wasn't your fault. It was a flaw in the program itself. Lyoko couldn't have been included no matter what you did! You did everything right!" he affirmed as Jeremy sighed and finally allowed himself to smile.

"Wow…a lot to digest in twenty minutes…" he said softly as Aelita looked expectantly at him.

"Can you forgive us, Jeremy?" she asked as he nodded slowly and looked at Hunter.

"So, Hunter, you're truly here to help?" he asked as Hunter nodded.

"XANA killed my parents; what do you think?" he asked wryly as Jeremy just nodded and finally broke into a small grin.

"Then welcome to the team," he said wholeheartedly as his laptop suddenly went off with a crazed beeping that even made Jacob's head snap around in shock. Jeremy opened it quickly and his eyes widened first in shock, then in fear as he spoke slowly, his voice cracking. "XANA's activated four towers…one in each Sector. According to the latest news reports, the nuclear reactor in the power station across town is receiving a sudden energy influx. If it superheats, it'll vaporize everything within 50 miles and turn this place into a wasteland…we have to go. Now!" Jeremy finished as he put down his dinner plate and stood up, everyone following suit as the gang raced quickly towards the Factory. Once they arrived, Jeremy raced to the controls as he muttered, "This is gonna take everybody! Head for the Scanners!" Jacob stayed behind for a moment and turned to Jeremy, one question burning in his eyes. Jeremy saw his gaze and just nodded.

"We'll solve this in time. We have to…" he whispered as Jacob turned and headed for the ladder to climb down to the Scanner Room…

Once the gang was assembled, Jeremy's voice came over the intercom.

"_In threes! We don't have a lot of time!_"

Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi!

Scanner Odd, Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi!

Virtualization!

Transfer William, Transfer Marth, Transfer Jacob!

Scanner William, Scanner Marth, Scanner Jacob!

Virtualization!

Transfer Aelita, Transfer Hunter!

Scanner Aelita, Scanner Hunter!

Jeremy watched as an ID Card was formed for Hunter in the Supercomputer, and once the screen blinked and gave him the OK to proceed, Jeremy finished the command code and hit the Enter button.

"Virtualization!" he yelled as silently, he prayed, "_Please let them solve this in time…they have to be all right…they HAVE TO…_"

TO BE CONTINUED…

LW94: Again, sorry for the lack of action…but it's coming now! The drama kind of makes up for it a little…haha.

Next time:

**Episode 125: Two for All (3)**

The gang is trapped in a race against time to save Kadic and all of France before a nuclear explosion occurs. Will they do it in time, or will a secret from Jacob's past be their undoing? Find out next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	3. Episode 125:  Racing the Clock

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Code Lyoko, but I do own the OCs.**

**A/N: This is going to be the first insight into the very sinister backstory I have planned out for this season. It's amazing…I get writer's block and end up stuck for 7 months, and then I pop out two chapters in one day! Imagine that… Oh, and by the way, READ AND REVIEW! I want to hear what YOU think is going on in this episode!**

**Episode 125: Racing the Clock (3)**

"Master, they're coming…" Taelia said softly as she stared into the pair of red eyes in the mist. "What should we do?" she asked as the mercenary knelt down beside her.

"_We need a plan…_" the program hissed. "_One that will be absolutely foolproof…_"

"How? As long as they have Jacob on their side we cannot stop them. His powers are beyond anything we can fight…"

"_Simple…_" XANA said in a sweetly static growl. "_When he and I fought before, I saw the weakness in his eyes. I watched him long before I murdered his parents…I watched how miserable his life was; how bitter he became…and I saw the one thing that broke his heart beyond repair. I know what his weakness is, and it's tied deeper than any battle scar can be… It's tied to his emotions…and I plan on using every ounce of emotion and pain that he's hiding against him…_"

Odd and Ulrich appeared over the Mountain Sector and Odd growled as he dropped to the ground and stretched leisurely, enjoying the feel of being on Lyoko again.

"Come on, Odd; it hasn't been THAT long since you've been here…" Ulrich laughed as Odd scowled at him.

"Hey, now! I can be excited if I want to be, thank you very much!" Odd scoffed as Jeremy came over the com-link.

"_Come on, guys! Focus! We've only got thirty minutes before the reactor reaches critical temperature and we all go KABOOM! Let's get a move on! The Tower is south-southwest of your current position_," he addedas Odd whirled around and saw a path leading in the vicinity of the Tower.

"On it, Einstein!" Odd replied as the Overboard and Overbike materialized in front of them. The pair hopped on and took off, knowing how little time they really had to finish the job…

Yumi and William materialized in the Forest Sector, and William grunted as he hit the ground and immediately drew his Zweihannder.

"Something's watching us…" he muttered as Yumi tensed up, on high alert as well.

"I feel it too…" she muttered as Jeremy quickly materialized the Overwing and Overdisc for the two of them. "Let's go," she added quickly as William hopped on the Overdisc. We don't have a lot of time…" she reiterated as she took off on the Overwing, putting on the afterburn in hopes that they could reach the Tower in time…

Aelita and Marth virtualized in the Desert Sector, and Aelita materialized her wings before she ever hit the ground, waiting just long enough for Marth to climb behind the wheel of his Overblast before she took off down a winding path to the north of their position. She knew XANA wouldn't give them a lot of time or chances, and she wanted this over as fast as possible. She whirled around in midair just long enough to yell down at Marth, "When we get there, cover me so I can get to the Tower FAST!"

"Got it, Aelita!" Marth yelled back as he hit the power boosters and jolted off underneath her as the two headed for the Tower...

Meanwhile, Jacob and Hunter were the last pair to arrive on Lyoko, and Jacob slid neatly forward as he landed on the ice, waiting intently for Hunter to land beside him. A moment later, the familiar zipping sound was heard and Hunter dropped onto the ice beside Jacob. He stood up slowly as Jacob took a moment to take in Hunter's Lyoko form. His hair was messier and more spiked than it was in the real world, and the blue streaks in his hair were even more pronounced, and flashed electric blue as the dim light hit it just right. He wore a sapphire-colored body suit that shimmered with black and silver trim as he moved. A pale and mysterious blue mist hovered around each of his hands, and Jacob guessed it had something to do with whatever his weapon or weapons were on Lyoko. Hunter stood up and turned to Jacob, his gaze just as mysterious as it was in the real world as he spoke.

"Well, don't we look similar," he pointed out as he saw Jacob's similarly-fashioned purple body suit.

"Ha," Jacob scoffed. "I'm claiming the original since I was on Lyoko first!" he grinned as Hunter's gaze suddenly ahrdened and they both remembered why they were there.

"_Are you two done_?" Jeremy asked crossly as Jacob nodded and Hunter glanced out at the terrain.

"Yeah, Einstein, sorry..." Jacob said quickly as Jeremy materialized the Overwheel. He jumped on, and then suddenly looked back at Hunter.

"Uh, Jeremy? Hunter doesn't have a vehicle." Hunter just smiled and shook his head.

"Jeremy, check that again. I downloaded some files from my Supercomputer and brought them with me. You should have a new vehicle file in there somewhere." Jeremy scanned the folder quickly and then let out an "Aha" as he came to it.

"_Found it, Maverick!_" Jeremy said in triumph as he hit Enter. The framework of a two-wheeled motorcycle appeared next to Jacob, and he let out a "Whoa..." as a sleek blue and silver bike materialized on the ice. It was trimmed with gold around the booster pipes and wheels with a blue and gold lightning bolt emblem on the front, and Jacob couldn't help but gape for just a moment.

"Now THAT is one cool ride..." he said, slightly jealous as Hunter hopped on and revved it for a moment.

"I call it the Overbolt. But my ride isn't the important thing right now."

"_I'll say! You two need to get moving! We've got all of twenty-five minutes before the reactor goes critical_!" Jeremy pointed out as Jacob nodded.

"Then let's bolt!" Hunter growled as he and Jacob blasted off down the path ahead of them towards their Tower.

"_Now, it's a race against time..._" Jacob thought grimly as he looked off into the distance...

In the Mountain Sector, Odd and Ulrich skidded to a halt as they came towards the first activated Tower, situated at the top of a spire with a long winding path leading up to the peak. Odd just looked up and grinned.

"Piece of cake!" he laughed as he raced at the rock face and extended his claws, jumping up and beginning to scale the cliff. At that moment, Ulrich looked up and saw movement at the top of the peak, looking like it was aimed at...

"Odd, look out!" Ulrich screeched as a hail of lasers came down from the peak, impacting Odd and sending him crashing to the ground.

"Ungh!" Odd screamed as he landed on his back.

"_Odd, you just lost fifty Life Points in one shot_!"

"What the crap IS that thing?" Ulrich growled as he looked up at a hideous two-legged creature standing on top of the peak. Its legs for the most part were its height, with steel-coated metal feet resembling oversized spiked horses' hooves. It had sinewy, exposed muscles covering its neck, head, and long metal-spiked tail. The tail itself was as long as its entire body and curled underneath its head because its legs raised it so high off of the ground. Its body was paper-white with thin, elastic skin covering jutting ribs that made it look almost undead. Odd just gaped as he picked himself up off the ground and looked at the beast, which was easily sizably bigger than a Megatank.

"XANA's come up with some new tricks..." he muttered as he thought for the briefest of moments. "Hey, Ulrich, the thing's got a spiky pointed tail. Why not call it the Scorpion?" he asked as Ulrich scoffed quickly, now dodging a laser blast from a trio of Krabes who appeared from the shadows of the base of the cliff.

"Yeah, that's great Odd, give it a name! Why don't we figure out a way to get rid of these freak shows!" he yelled as Odd looked at him and nodded.

"BONZAI!" Odd yelled as he charged towards the spiral path leading to the top of the spire, diving through the legs of a Krabe on his way forward and upward as Ulrich dashed forward to deal with the Krabes...

Yumi and William flew towards the Forest Sector Tower, and as Yumi began to descend towards the ground, William honed his ears, hearing a slight buzzing sound from the distance as a shadowy cloud began to darken the greenish light that usually enveloped the Sector. Yumi saw this and whirled around as she jumped to the ground, seeing a massive swarm of Hornets and Insekts approaching from the distance.

"William!" she yelled as William snapped around on the Overdisc and began evasive maneuvers as he descended towards the ground. As soon as he hit the ground he pulled out his Zweihander and blasted an energy pulse at the swarm, cutting a wide swath through the center of the mass, but leaving many more headed for them. At that moment, a thud sounded behind William, and he turned quickly to see the mercenary, Taelia's partner, in all his black and gold livery, walking towards them, his blade crackling with electricity. As William leveled his Zweihander, Yumi pulled out her fans and glanced quickly at him.

"On three?" she asked as he nodded almost indiscernably.

"THREE!" he growled as Yumi threw her fans and he lashed out another energy wave...

As Aelita and Marth raced through the cavernous canyons of the Desert Sector, Aelita couldn't help but think to herself, "_We're playing this exactly how XANA wants...he wants us split up so we'll be that much easier to take down..._" But as she and Marth continued to travel at warp speed, she brushed off the nagging feelings from the back of her mind. They could handle this, right?

As the pair approached the Tower, Aelita skidded to a halt as she looked around at the surrounding area. Things seemed to be quiet...almost...too quiet...

"Aelita, go! Head for the Tower!" Marth said quickly as Aelita hesitated. In that moment, a pair of Megatanks rolled out from behind the Tower, and a flash of scarlet light emanated from in front of the base of the Tower as Taelia stepped out from the glowing haze, whip curled lazily around her waist and resting loosely in her right hand. She laughed cynically as she looked at Aelita and Marth, ready for battle.

"Well, well, well...look at the little heroes," she said with an evil smirk. "Here to save the day... Well it ain't gonna happen this time, idiots! You're about to drop right here...and then my Master's plan will come to pass and you'll all go bye-bye forever..." Taelia finished in a sing-songy voice as Aelita glared at her. The pinkette just growled as she muttered to Marth out of the corner of her mouth:

"You handle the Megatanks. The flower princess is _mine_..." she hissed as she turned her attention back to Taelia.

"You ready to die, my dear?" Taelia asked sweetly as Aelita met her gaze with a stone-cold glare of defiance.

"Only if you're going first," she shot back in a raspy hiss as she formed an Energy Field. "_This should be fun..._" she thought to herself as she and Marth split, charging into what she knew would be a messy fight...

Meanwhile, in the Ice Sector, Jacob and Hunter had finally reached the activated Tower, situated behind a waterfall in a crystalline cavern. Jacob walked a few steps ahead of Hunter as they left their vehicles behind, but froze suddenly, feeling an ominous wave of dread pass over him as Hunter joined him. The two stared at the Tower for a long couple of moments before Jacob finally spoke.

"Do you feel that, Hunter...?" he asked. "Something's not right..." he muttered as he felt an intense prickling on the back of his neck and a chill go up his spine. Something definitely wasn't right...and Jacob knew it as he felt the air chill even further... All of a sudden, Hunter looked around and saw an invading black fog blanketing the ice at their feet, and his eyes widened as he made the connection...

"Jacob..." he said hoarsely as he realized what was coming... Jacob looked down, and then at the Tower, and realized it too as the Tower's scarlet aura began to glow even brighter before a set of black ripples appeared on the surface of the Tower. The two emotionally ravaged boys watched silently and fearfully as XANA walked out from the Tower and faced them, his red eyes glowing in delight as he gazed at his prey...

"_Well, well, well...it has been a while, hasn't it, my friends? I was wondering when all three of us would be together again…_"

"Shut up, XANA!" Jacob screeched as he pushed the flashbacks he was having away. "This ends now!"

"_Oh, but Jacob…_" XANA hissed sweetly as he closed his eyes for a moment… "_Don't you want to __**see**__ what I have in store for you…?_" he asked as he opened his eyes again, only now they were no longer scarlet…they were brown. An all-too familiar brown…a brown and a gaze that sent shockwaves straight through Jacob's heart as he tried to look away…but was transfixed as he began to lose it all over again…

"No… No, no, no, no, no… This is not happening… NO…UNRGHHHHHHH…AAAHHHHHHH!"

In the Mountain Sector…

"Hiyahhh…IMPACT!" Ulrich screamed as he plunged his sword into the Eye on the third Krabe's back. He dropped to the ground and panted as he quickly caught his breath. He glanced up to see storms of laser fire blasting from the top of the peak, and he gritted his teeth as he began to sprint up the spiral pathway towards the top of the spire. "I'm coming, Odd…" he whispered softly as he activated his Super Sprint…

"Hunh!" Odd grunted as he flipped backwards to avoid a laser flurry from the Scorpion, but he gasped in shock as he had to flip back forward quickly to avoid going over the edge. He landed on his feet and immediately jumped to avoid a swipe from the beast's lethal spiked tale. Odd tried to back up, but gulped as his feet hit the edge and gravel fell backwards to the Sector floor a long way below. "_If I fall now, I won't make it…_" Odd thought to himself as he prepared for the worst…

"Hiyahh!" Ulrich screamed as he threw his sword at the Scorpion, who turned around at the sudden noise just in time to catch the blade right in the eye on its deformed, sinewy head. It shrieked as the blade blinded it, and feel to the ground writhing as its muscles contracted until it exploded in a bright yellow bang that left fibrous gold strands on the rocks for a moment before they vanished completely. Odd sighed in relief as he stood up slowly, helped to his feet with a hand from Ulrich.

"Thanks, buddy…I thought I was toast there for a minute," he said in relief as he chuckled softly.

"No problem, cat-boy," Ulrich laughed as he slapped Odd on the shoulder. He knew how much that nickname infuriated Odd.

"Hey! What did I say about calling me cat-boy?" Odd yelped as Ulrich jumped backwards to avoid a swipe from Odd.

"I say: I'll see you in a minute…" Ulrich laughed as he turned tail and ran into the Tower…

"Urgh…" Odd growled as he sat down to wait…

Meanwhile, in the Forest Sector…

"Ungh!" William groaned as he took a roundhouse kick to the stomach from the mercenary, and barely leaned back enough to dodge what would have been a very lethal slice to the throat from his blade. "Super Smoke!" he cried as he vanished into a puff of silver smoke and raced away to join Yumi, who was struggling to fend off the advances of the bug swarm. She was surrounded by Hornet acid and having to nimbly block laser fire from the Insekts. "_If I can just get there in time…_" he thought as he raced to try and get to her, but all of a sudden, he heard, "WILLIAM! BEHIND YOU!" screamed just before "Augh…" and knew that the bugs had gotten to Yumi. At this, William stopped, reformed, and looked straight at the mercenary, who was glaring menacingly at him as he prepared to blast a lightning bolt, but he never saw what William had coming next…

"SILVER RAGE!" William shrieked as his pupils began to glow silver and he was enveloped in a cloud of silver flames. The swarm tried to retreat, but the flames moved too quickly for them to escape, incinerating the whole army of bugs as he recalled the flames and focused his attention on the mercenary, who took a step back now, clearly startled by this show of aggression. William just glared at him before blasting a thin but razor-sharp pulse of flame at him, and though the boy tried to dodge the blast, it was too quick for him, and he sank to his knees when the flaming spike impaled him in the stomach, moaning softly as he vanished in a cloud of gold and red smoke.

"That's how we take care of business," Will scoffed simply as he picked up his Zweihander and headed for the Tower…

"Unh…" Yumi moaned as she reappeared in the Scanner Room. "This is why I _hate_ bugs…"

In the Desert Sector…

"Hurgh!" Marth screamed as he powered his axe through the shell of a Megatank and right to its Eye, causing it to explode violently after a moment's pause. "That's two down!" he cheered as before he could even react, a third elliptical laser came from out of nowhere and sliced him clean down the middle, devirtualizing him on contact.

"OW!" Marth yelped as he rematerialized. "Sneak attacks aren't cool!"

"Urrrrgh…GIVE UP!" Taelia shrieked as she dropped her whip and went hand-to-hand with Aelita, who fought back with every ounce of strength she had, her eyes glistening in fury as she tried to overpower the flower queen.

"N-never!" Aelita grunted in response as she pushed Taelia's arm up to where she could twist it for half a second and break free of the hand-to-hand fighting, springing backwards and launching herself into the air.

"Oh, so that's how you want to play this?" Taelia growled menacingly as she took to the skies as well. "Fine! Two can play at this game!" she hissed as she launched a storm of razor petals at Aelita, who pulled a double aerial flip to dodge the shards. She fired an Energy Field back at Taelia, who rolled to the right to avoid it, but fell to the ground when the orb clipped her wing. Aelita saw her chance and dove immediately, not giving Taelia any time to react as she pinend her to the ground with a grip on her throat. Aelita just looked smugly into the demonic eyes as she put an Energy Field to the traitor's throat.

"And, lights out," she said simply as she plunged the orb into Taelia, causing the girl to scream in pain before vanishing in a cloud of pink and black smoke.

Back in the Ice Sector…

Hunter could only watch helplessly as Jacob dropped to the ground, writhing in agony as he clenched his eyes tightly shut, screeching repeatedly: "No…this can't be happening again…" Hunter looked up at XANA, whose eyes had reverted now to their usual scarlet color, and tensed as he spoke angrily.

"What have you done to him?" Hunter screamed in rage as XANA laughed maniacally, his evil cackle ringing clearly and menacingly in the ice cavern.

"_Who, me? I've simply played his one weakness against him! His powers are greater than I ever envisioned…and the only way I knew to take him down was by playing with the one variable that even he himself can't control in this life…his __**heart**__! And look; I've reduced him to nothing but a sniveling, whimpering mess on the ice. Isn't it lovely?_" XANA cackled as Hunter's gaze began to burn in pure anger.

"Don't you DARE MESS WITH MY FRIEND AGAIN!" he screeched as he raised his hands in front of him. "Dark Fire!" Hunter shrieked as the blue mist surrounding his hands began to glow a deep navy and blasted out suddenly as spear-like shots of fire that even XANA, as quick as he was, couldn't dodge. They impacted him dead in the chest, and he simply laughed as he began to fade into a cloud of black smoke. As he was vanishing, he smirked and whispered once more into Jacob's head, not in his own distorted voice, but in a higher-pitched voice that Jake recognized instantly and cringed at, beginning to sob as he heard it ring in his ears again.

"_I'll be back soon…you know that…and then we'll just have all the more time to talk…_" Jacob let out an earsplitting wail at those final words, and his body was racked with sobs as Hunter watched XANA disappear before sprinting over to Jacob's side and kneeling down next to him.

"Jacob, Jacob Jacob…shh…it's okay, mate…" he whispered softly as Jacob continued to cough, tears that shouldn't exist streaming down his cheeks. "XANA's gone…it's all right man…" As a moment passed, Jacob's coughing slowly stopped and his shuddering began to still as he froze and opened his eyes, looking slowly up at Hunter as if trying to figure out what had happened.

"H-Hunter…what happened…?" he whispered slowly as he sat up and held his head, his temples aching.

"I was about to ask you the same question…" he admitted softly. "XANA did something to you…I'm not sure what…but you were down for the count. I stopped him though, before anything bad happened and we couldn't get to the Tower…"

"The Tower!" Jacob shrieked suddenly as he bolted to his feet. "Jeremy! How much time?" he asked instantly as Jeremy came over the com-link quickly.

"_Not enough!_" he shot back in a panic. "_The other three are in the Towers already! Go, Jacob!_" he finished in utter fear as Jacob raced into the Tower.

Once inside, Jacob activated the four-way com-link to talk to the other three. "_You guys ready?_" he asked as he got all-clears from Aelita, Ulrich, and William. "_Jeremy, you ready with the remote deactivation?_"

"_Roger_," Jeremy replied as Jacob and Aelita laid their hands on their two respective Interfaces…

Meanwhile, the nuclear reactor's temperature gauge began to crack as the indicator approached 1000 degrees…

REMOTE DEACTIVATION 1: JEREMY

CODE:

LYOKO

REMOTE DEACTIVATION 2: JEREMY

CODE:

LYOKO

AELITA

CODE:

LYOKO

JACOB

CODE:

LYOKO

"Towers deactivated…" Jacob said softly as he heard the simultaneous beeps over the com-link and watched the screens fall around him in the Ice Sector Tower. "Guys, let's go home…"

Back at the Academy that evening…

"Whew…we stopped XANA before disaster struck again…" Odd laughed. "Three cheers for Team Lyoko! Hip hip—"

"Guys, has anyone seen Jacob?" Aelita asked suddenly as she looked around. Hunter and Jeremy's heads snapped around as well, and when they didn't see him, Jeremy just shook his head.

"He probably just needed some sleep. It was a tiring mission today…" he pointed out as Maverick sighed.

"_No…there's something not right here…_" he thought to himself, worrying about his new friend and hoping everything was okay…

In Jacob's dorm, there was no moonlight filtering in on this night, as the curtains had been drawn tightly shut. The shadows were enveloping him in almost total darkness. He was curled up in a tight little ball on his bed, shaking and crying as he slept, and he thrashed and tossed and turned in his bed as his dreams were plagued by a haunting set of brown eyes, and a voice he had never wanted to hear again, saying nothing but, "_I'm sorry, but you still deserve this…_"

LW94: Poor Jacob…plagued by an enemy he can't see or fight… Don't fret, my readers…the explanation will come in time…

Next time:

**Episode 126: Mind Games**

As nightmares begin to plague Jacob's thoughts and fear begins to settle in, he goes to Lyoko for answers, only to encounter more than he ever bargained for. Will the Warriors be able to find him before disaster strikes, or will their friend be lost forever in the darkness of his worst nightmares? Find out next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	4. Episode 126:  Mind Games

**DISCLAIMER: I still do not own Code Lyoko! I do own Jacob and the other OCs though.**

**A/N: OMGsh a HUUUUUGE thanks to Amber0639, without whom this chapter would NEVER have been completed at this point! Hit a major roadblock and she helped me work through it! And again, I APOLOGIZE for the lack of "action", but I need to build the suspense and give myself something to work on later…I have big plans, don't worry about that! Read and REVIEW! DON'T MAKE ME BEG!**

**Episode 126: Mind Games**

"Hunh!" Jacob gasped as he bolted up out of bed from a fitful sleep. It was the third time in a week he had been plagued with the nightmares, and he had gotten maybe three hours of sleep in the last three nights because of them. He let out a deep sigh as he slowly sat up in his bed. His eyes were bloodshot and weary, and he moved very slowly to get out of bed, cursing himself that he had classes today as he gathered his things to get ready for the coming day…

In the cafeteria…

"Morning guys; can I join you?" Hunter asked as he approached the Warriors' table with his breakfast tray.

"Of course, Hunter; please sit," Yumi said with a faint smile as Hunter sat down next to Ulrich and began to ravenously chow into his food.

"Wow, Hunter, you eat almost as fast as Odd does!" William chuckled as Hunter scoffed through a mouthful of hash browns.

"Not usually; I was just hungry this morning! Yesterday took a lot out of me!" he laughed as he continued to chow and Odd laughed. Aelita though looked around quickly, noticing instantly that they were one member short again this morning…

"Guys, has _anyone_ seen Jacob at all? He wasn't around last night, and now he's not here this morning." Jeremy just touched her shoulder gently to try and calm her nerves.

"I'm sure he's okay, Princess…" Odd said softly. "He's probably working on something, like Einstein when he gets so inspired! You can't get either one of them to show their faces!" he laughed as Aelita nodded slowly.

"You're probably right…" she said softly as she met Hunter's eyes with a concerned gaze and he just returned her gaze with a knowing glance that told her there was more to this than she knew…

Jacob sighed as he sat down against the cool metal of the school gates and propped his head in his hands, rubbing his temples as his head pounded in frustration. He sighed deeply as his thoughts raced inside his head, not even noticing a pair of footsteps come up behind him as Joey sat down silently next to him.

"I know you…when you disappear like this, something's up…" he said as Jacob looked up slowly before scoffing at his remark and shaking his head.

"I'm that predictable?" he asked cynically in response as Joey laughed and shook his head.

"No, I've just known you long enough to know," he smiled. "You haven't talked to anyone since you came back to your dorm yesterday…hey, look at me," Joey said suddenly as he lifted Jacob's chin and looked into his eyes. "I can see it in your eyes…something's got you scared, man…" he said softly as Jacob flinched. "Talk to me, man…please…" he said as a tear rolled out of Jacob's eye. Jake stood up quickly as he blinked, trying to clear the tears but only succeeding to cry harder.

"I can't, Joey…I'm sorry…" he whispered in a choked sob as he ran off towards the woods.

"Jake, come back!" Joey cried futilely as he took a step to follow, but it was too late. His friend was already gone…

Jacob bolted blindly through the woods, yelping in pain as he was snagged by burrs, thorns, and branches, nicking up his arms and legs with cuts and bruises as he fled. Even though the cuts were there, Jacob didn't feel the physical pain. His emotions were too overpowering right now to even think about the physical ache as he stopped running and realized after a moment he was standing on the bridge to the Factory. He groaned as the burn of the cuts to his legs and arms caught up with him and winced as he realized small drops of blood were dripping from his wounds to the ground next to him. He scowled as he dived for the rope and headed down to the Lab, wincing as the rope burned against his hands. Once he got to the Lab, he quickly ran his fingers over the keyboard to set up a delayed virtualization and then raced down to the Scanners…he needed time to think…and he needed to be alone…

Meanwhile…

"Aelita; you coming?" Jeremy asked as he turned back to see her stopped at the dormitory stairs as the gang made their way towards the Science building for Mrs. Hertz's class. Aelita shook her head quickly as she headed for the steps.

"Tell Mrs. Hertz I'll be along. I'm going to check on Jacob," she murmured softly as she dashed up the stairs, not giving Jeremy time to react as he sighed softly and turned to walk to class…

Aelita walked slowly down the hall towards Jacob's room, and sighed as she pondered what was going on. "_Something's not right with him…hasn't been ever since we got back from Lyoko…something's happened, I just wish I knew what…_" she thought to herself as she came up on Jacob's door and realized it wasn't latched. Her eyes widened as she pushed on the door, and it swung open without resistance as her eyes met a deserted room, and Jacob's laptop left on the desk next to his bed. "_He would NEVER leave his laptop if he were going somewhere for an extended period…never!_" she yelled in her head as her thoughts swam with worry that something serious had happened to him…or that wherever he was, he didn't want to be found. She let out a choked cough in shock as a tear dripped out of her eye. After all this…he still couldn't trust them…his friends…her…to help him?

"Oh, Jacob…please come back…we can help if you tell us where you are…" she whispered as a tear ran down her face, knowing how pointless saying that really was as inside, she worried no end about her missing friend. At that point, she did the only logical thing she could think of. She picked up her phone. "Jeremy? Jacob's missing. I'm going to go search for him," she said matter-of-factly, letting him know that he wasn't going to stop her as she bolted out of the Dorm building and headed for the Hermitage…

Jacob landed with a cool thump in the Arena of Sector Five, waiting impatiently as the room stopped swirling and the corridor opened itself to him. He raced down the long passageway and summoned his Overwheel as he ran, hopping onto it midstride as he zoomed off through the winding maze of the Core Zone, eventually coming to the Data Interface on the outside of the sphere and seeing nothing but data streams and open space around him. He whirled around and zoomed straight down, heading for the South Pole of the Sector faster than the elevators could even think to take him there. "_That is, if they could think…_" he chuckled wryly to himself as he paused for a moment to await the opening of the Pole before zipping through the gap and jumping off his vehicle, landing safely on a platform in front of a huge winding staircase leading slowly upwards to the Core. He scoffed as he hit the Key on the wall next to him, activating the gaps in the staircase and then hopping on his vehicle to fly up to the Core platform. He arrived just as the last gaps in the stairs were filled and the long path leading out to the Core Interface began to extend. He leaped off the Overwheel and landed gracefully on the blue path below him, taking a knee as he steadied himself before walking out to the Core itself. He stopped a few steps from the edge of the barrier, slowly sitting down cross-legged as he gazed up into the intoxicating, transfixing, and swirling glow of the Heart of Lyoko. "_It truly is a thing of beauty_," he mused as he watched the miniature Lyoko swirl in its light for several moments before speaking aloud a single sentence in a fragile, defeated voice, one that he knew would help him to get the advice he so desperately needed…

"Franz…if you can hear me…I need your advice…your help. Please…"

Back at the Academy…

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Hertz…" Aelita panted as she popped into the Science Lab. "I was…"

"Trying to find Jacob? Yes, I was told, and thank you for the effort, dear," Mrs. Hertz said in a slightly concerned tone as she looked around again. "Has anyone seen Jacob today?" she asked again as the class shook their heads. She sighed and cast her worry aside as she went back to her lesson on chemical equations. Meanwhile, Aelita took her seat next to Jeremy, who immediately turned to her with fear in his eyes.

"You still haven't found him?" he hissed in a whisper as Aelita shook her head in defeat.

"No…I haven't…" she replied. "I checked at the Hermitage, too. I don't think he wants to be found…" she whispered in a low voice as Jeremy grunted in frustration.

"There're only so many places he could be, Aelita…" he reassured her. "We _will_ find him. Don't worry," he finished with false confidence that he wasn't sure he could really muster at this point…

Jacob blinked as the Core's light suddenly brightened, and he had to look away as the rotation of the mini-Lyoko within its confines increased a hundredfold. When the light finally began to die down, Jacob slowly turned towards the Core again, and saw nothing different than he had before, but when he went to walk away, a voice in his head stopped him.

"_You wanted to talk to me, Jacob?_" Franz asked as his older, rumbling voice echoed clearly in Jacob's head, and the Warrior yelped and whirled around as the guttural laugh rang in his mind. When Jacob had had a chance to catch his breath, he looked up as he rose fully to his feet again and nodded slowly.

"I think we might have a problem…" Jacob said slowly as he could almost see Franz tilt his head to the side, waiting for a response. "XANA's found the one way to get inside my head. He brought me down during a routine Mission in the Ice Sector and…I don't know if I can stop him…"

"_What happened…?_" Franz asked with concern as Jacob sighed deeply and prepared to bring up memories he never wanted to relive…

"He's gotten to my emotions…and I think he may have recruited or stolen someone else for his side…that's what worries me so bad, because we still have numbers, but it's who he's found that worries me. He's got the key to my emotions…he broke me down, Franz…" Jacob said, the last words almost dissolving into tears as he dropped to his knees. From within the Core, he could feel Franz's soft gaze on him, reassuring him that everything would be okay as he shuddered and sat down again where he had began.

"_Who is it that could possibly have that kind of power over you…?_" Franz asked as Jacob looked up with near-sparkling eyes.

"The fourth…" he said simply as he felt a wave of fury and apprehension pulse from the Core. Franz had not been expecting _that_ one… "I think XANA's got control of him, and he's using the pain that was inflicted on me to wreak havoc with me…and the worst part about it is…I can't stop it…I just can't…the pain's driven too deep…" Jacob said softly, choking back tears as Franz sighed…well, as much as he could sigh for being stuck in the Core with no way out…

"_Oh, my boy…you've endured so much…_" Franz said as Jacob just shook with heart-wrenching sobs, but didn't allow himself to cry as he let his frustration finally spill out…

Aelita and Jeremy could not have been happier to hear the last bell ring for the day as they sprinted out of the Science building to meet Yumi and William with the rest of the gang in tow. When all of the Warriors were gathered at the Crossroads, Jeremy sat down on the bench to assess the situation.

"Any news, Einstein?" Yumi asked immediately as Jeremy shook his head.

"No…" he muttered softly. "It's almost as if he doesn't want to be found," he said as Aelita nodded in agreement.

"What do we do, then?" Ulrich asked in frustration. "He's not on campus anywhere; we've all searched!"

"Well…" Hunter said as everyone stopped to look at him. "His laptop's here, but there is the obvious," he suggested quickly as Jeremy nodded.

"Then let's head to the Factory," he said firmly as the gang dashed for the woods…

Meanwhile…

"I'm sorry, Franz…" Jacob coughed as he shakily stood up and faced the Core again. "I should be stronger than this…" he said in a choked whisper as Franz scoffed at him.

"_For what? You did nothing wrong, my boy. And if you believe that you did, then you're letting XANA have control over you that he does not deserve and should not have had in the first place. Be strong, Jacob…_" Franz said as he stopped and Jacob whirled around at the sound of footsteps approaching the Core Room. As he turned to speak to Franz again, Jacob saw that the glow from the Core had gone out, and he knew in that moment that Franz was gone. He turned back to face what was coming, and as the figure came into view, Jake was floored for the second time in as many days as his vision faded to black and he dropped to the ground screaming as nothing but mixed echoes of maniacal laughing and pained screeches could be heard throughout the entirety of Sector Five…

As the gang arrived in the Computer Lab, Jeremy looked around and immediately saw the thin trail of blood leading to the computer chair. His eyes widened in shock as he choked, "He's here…" Aelita gasped in shock and said, "I'm going!" as she raced back to the elevator, followed closely by Hunter and Ulrich. "We'll bring him home, Jeremy," Hunter said solemnly as the elevator doors closed, leaving Odd, Yumi, William, and Marth in the Lab with Jeremy.

"All we can do now is wait," Yumi whispered.

"And hope…" Marth agreed as Odd sighed slowly and began to pace…

"Here we go, you three," Jeremy said as they stepped into the Scanners. "Find him…" "_Before it's too late…_" he added silently as the Scanner doors closed…

Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Aelita, Transfer Hunter!

Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Aelita, Scanner Hunter!

Virtualization!

The trio landed in the Arena a few moments later, and hit the ground running as they dashed through the corridor leading to the Core Zone. As they entered the first room, Aelita froze as she heard a strange echoing sound bouncing off the walls, and Hunter's eyes widened as he immediately recognized what the sound was…

"It's Jacob," he said without hesitation. "Jeremy, we've got to hurry!" he snapped as Jeremy's head shot up and he raced his fingers across the keys.

"Vehicles on the way!" he shot back as the Overbike, Overbolt, and Aelita's Overwing virtualized after a few seconds' pause. The three Warriors jumped on them without a second glance and zoomed off at warp speed to navigate the twisting maze of the Core Zone. Aelita took the lead as she tried to follow the sounds of Jacob's screams, and yelped as a laser streaked by her head. She rolled to avoid the shots, and Ulrich whirled around to face the Creepers who had managed to catch up to them.

"I got them, Aelita; you two go on!" he growled as he jumped off of the Overbike and drew his twin sabres. "Now, let's get down to business…" he hissed as he deflected a laser blast from one of the Creepers and gritted his teeth as he tensed up, waiting to make his move…

Aelita and Hunter continued on until they reached the Data Interface, and Aelita immediately looked over the edge of the platform and breathed sharply as she heard the screams intensify. "Jeremy! Check the Core Room! I think he may be there!" Jeremy's fingers flew over the keys as he entered the scan and he shook his head as it came up negative.

"I don't get it, Aelita," he replied, "There's _nobody_ in there! Unless his signal is being blocked somehow he's not there!"

"He's there!" she said through gritted teeth as she zoomed off the platform and headed for the South Pole. "We can hear the screams…" she said as she held back tears… "Hunter, let's go!" she hissed as she blasted downward and headed for the Pole's entrance. As they approached the South Pole, the screams echoing from inside grew louder, and Aelita shrieked as she held back tears. She gritted her teeth, and muttered, "_We're coming, Jacob_…" as she blasted up through the South Pole entrance when it opened and landed on the platform where the Core Zone door was located. She hit the Key to open the giant doorway without hesitation, and the moment the door was open, she sprinted through it and activated her wings to fly up towards the Core platform. She blasted upward towards Jacob's intensifying shrieks, and Hunter screamed, "Aelita, wait!" But there was no stopping her. She soared up and a few moments later she landed on the Core platform with an audible "thud!" unable to believe what she saw…

A figure was kneeling by Jacob's side, with a hand laid almost caringly on his shoulder, and Jacob thrashed under the touch as if he were being scalded with a hot iron. Aelita's eyes widened as she took a step forward and screamed, "Get away from him!" The figure whirled around in shock and utter surprise as he was revealed to be a younger boy, about the same age as the Warriors. He was wearing a white body suit with blue stripes down the sides and as his eyes met Aelita, she saw a transfixing amber gaze that held more fury and anguish than she had ever seen in a human being as his eyes widened, and before she could even move to stop him from running, the boy flipped off the side of the platform into the Digital Sea... Aelita just gaped as he disappeared from view, and then dived forward to Jacob's side, trying to soothe him as she murmured softly into his ear. "Shh...shh Jake...it's okay...I'm here..." she whispered as he screeched and shivered in her arms...

"It's happening again...I never thought...I never...he was never supposed to find me again..." As Aelita heard these words, even though she didn't know the extent of the story, she knew that the boy she had seen was the one who had been tormenting Jacob's thoughts, and who had obviously hurt him so badly before. In that moment, she knew she had to help her friend heal, and she laid him softly on the ground in front of her as she rolled up onto her knees and laid a hand on each of Jake's temples. She opened her mouth and began to sing, the soothing sound echoing throughout the Sector as Hunter ran up to the scene and froze, watching as a faint pink glow enveloped both Aelita and Jacob. The latter's eyes slowly fluttered shut as Aelita focused on the shadows she could feel in his head; the broken thoughts and images; the dark memories and all the pain in his heart. She focused on pulling all of it out and helping him to heal as she looked at his face and softly whispered, "Forget..." as she used her Creativity and energy from her set of Lyoko Keys to wipe Jacob's memory clean of all the heartache and fear, and she sighed in relief as she felt him relax in her arms and saw his expression change from one of fear to one of calm as she felt him go limp, exhausted and spent from everything that happened. Hunter just marveled at the extent of Aelita's abilities as she sighed and shook from the effort of cleansing her friend's memory. She slowly stood up as she laid his head down onto the cool block surface and turned her head to the foggy ceiling above. "Jeremy," she said softly, nearly spent herself as she continued, "A return trip would be the best thing for everybody at this point, especially for Jacob..." she finished as she cast her soft gaze again onto her friend.

"Copy that, Aelita," Jeremy said as he punched in the code without a second thought. "Return to the Past NOW!" he said confidently as the white bubble quickly enveloped the planet and reversed the chaos of the hours that had just gone by...

"Unh..." Jacob muttered as he slowly stirred and woke up from what must have been at least a restful night's sleep. He slowly sat up and shook his head to clear it and wake up as he stood up and looked in the mirror. His reflection gazed back at him, and he saw for once in his life, peace. He could remember nothing of the day that had been erased, and that was all for the best. He slowly slipped into his clothes and combed his hair before heading down to the cafeteria for breakfast. On the way down, he stopped as Aelita met him on the stairs, smiling as he waited on her to catch up before the pair walked down towards the cafeteria.

"Morning, Jacob. Are you feeling all right this morning? We didn't see you last night and I was worried..."

"Yeah, Princess...I am feeling okay. In fact...I feel at peace for some reason..." he said softly as he looked into her eyes, and Aelita knew that, at least for now, he would not have to worry again; that he did not have the paralyzing fear that she had seen consuming him anymore...

"_You were not able to destroy the boy, nor did you manage to lure Franz Hopper out of his hiding place. I'm disappointed in you, my servant..._" XANA hissed in a staticky growl as the mysterious boy gazed out of the shadows at him. Surrounding them was a strangely shimmering obsidian castle, and if you could have looked outside, you would have seen nothing but wilted trees, cracked and dusty ground, and dusky purplish-black skies giving the area the appearance of a wasteland. The boy looked back with a steely gaze at the program who had become his ally, and spoke softly but firmly in response.

"I apologize, Master XANA, but I promise you, Jacob will fall to us. It's only a matter of time before he gives in to his heart and comes searching for me. I may have caused him pain in the past, but I saw his eyes as I cared for him in Sector Five. He still cares about me, and he is still concerned for me. And when the time comes, I will bring him here, and then he will be ours once and for all. Even his will won't be strong enough this time. Let the mind games begin, my friend..."

LW94: And so the gauntlet is laid… I WANT YOUR INPUT! What do you think is coming up? Stay tuned for more…

Next time:

**Episode 127: Dry Spell**

As Jacob recovers from his bout on Lyoko with no memory of what really happened, the Lyoko Warriors continue on into the new school year and XANA begins to reveal that he has gained back more strength than anyone originally thought when he launches an attack from the Desert Replika. Will the Warriors be able to stop it, and what role will this Replika play into the fight to rescue Franz? Find out, next time…on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	5. Episode 127:  Dry Spell

**DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Code Lyoko. Do own the OCs.**

**A/N: This took longer than I wanted to be able to write, but this is the longest single episode to date that I have written at nearly 5300 words. A lot of backstory, and the beginning of a plan…haha enjoy! Special thanks to Amber0639 (DeviantArt) and Michael Moore (), whose review ideas were a MASSIVE help in completing this episode! See, I do take suggestions from you, my loyal readers! READ AND REVIEW!**

**Episode 127: Dry Spell**

One week later…

At the Hermitage, Aelita was softly tidying up a few things from her floor as her mom finished up a few last minute things downstairs. Her room actually looked like a room again, and the house she had once called home was about to be her home again. Sam would be sharing her dorm room with another student, and the fiery skater had already told her that the walls were being repainted. Aelita had just laughed and told her that once she had moved out, Sam could have her way with the walls and whatnot, "because I sure as heck won't be needing it", she laughed.

"Hmm…" Aelita sighed as she put her laptop on her desk and finished hooking everything up as soft footsteps came down the hallway towards her room.

"Aelita?" she heard from her doorway as her mom knocked softly on the door. "Are you settled okay?" she asked softly, hoping that things were to Aelita's liking. She had learned quickly when her daughter came home that Aelita had a lot more fire in her than she had ever seen, and was quickly turning into the bright young woman she knew her daughter would be. It had been hard, at first, getting used to this Aelita and realizing that she wasn't her "little girl" any more, but Antea just smiled as she knew that all she could do was focus on today, the present, and hope that she knew her daughter as well as she thought for the short time she had been home.

"Yeah, mom, I am," Aelita nodded as she stood up and gave her mom a hug before going back to hooking her laptop up and activating her Lyoko programs. Antea sighed mentally and congratulated herself on a job well done as Aelita continued. "You did a great job. You and the boys," she chuckled, as William, Jacob and Jeremy had helped with the remodeling and painting portions of the project when they could during the summer. "Just finishing getting all of this stuff set up so that if anything happens, we know," she said softly as Antea nodded, her eyes flickering for just a moment as she thought back on everything that happened before casting it out of her mind, knowing that she could focus on her life and her daughter again.

"That's my girl, always looking out for us," Antea smiled as Aelita laughed and flashed her mom a bright smile. Antea turned to walk out, and stopped in the doorway to call back, "Do you want anything specific for dinner, baby girl?" Aelita scowled playfully before replying with a chuckle and a glimmer in her eyes.

"Not your baby girl anymore, Mom," she grinned as Antea made a show of lightly smacking her face with her hand before the pair laughed and Antea walked back downstairs to prepare some food. Aelita just sighed and laughed as she shook her head and sat down at her desk, opening her laptop and opening a video chat window when she saw that Jacob was online. She started the chat, laughing as she saw an image of Jacob bent down, his back visible but his head under the desk, obviously working on some of the wiring under his desk. "That wasn't what I expected to see first thing!" she laughed, her eyes widening and her laughs increasing in intensity as Jacob jumped and banged his head on the underside of the desk. He yelped in pain and shock as he quickly dove out from under the desk and crawled back up to sit in his chair, rubbing the back of his head and muttering furiously under his breath as Aelita chuckled.

"_THAT…that was SO not funny!_" he snapped playfully, unable to hold back a laugh as Aelita nodded through her laughing fit, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to calm herself.

"Yes…yes it was…" she gasped as Jake just scowled playfully and waited for Aelita to stop laughing before he spoke.

"_Any PARTICULAR reason you rang, or was it just to scare me?_" he snapped lightly as Aelita scoffed.

"The scare was totally on accident, I wanted to show you _this_…" she said simply as she took a step back from the screen and panned her webcam around her newly refinished room, allowing Jake to take it in. He gasped in shock at all of their hard work, and smiled as Aelita sat back down.

"_Aelita, it looks great! It's just gonna be weird that you're not staying in your dorm every night!_" he said with a wry look as Aelita nodded.

"I know, but I'll still be there for classes every day, and Sam's moving into my room, so it's not like some total stranger's getting it," she laughed.

"_True, it's just not the same_," Jacob replied. "_BUT, it does mean we have a place we can all get together outside of Kadic now,_" he added as Aelita nodded quickly.

"I know, I can't wait for you guys to see it in person," she grinned as she heard a knock on Jacob's door through the connection, and a moment later saw Odd and Ulrich burst through the door.

"_Dude, you coming? I'm STARVING!_" Odd shot at him as he noticed Aelita's face on the screen. "_Oh, hey, Princess!_" he grinned as Aelita smiled.

"Hey yourself," she replied as Jacob chuckled.

"_I guess we're going down to dinner then_," Jacob remarked as Aelita nodded. "_You coming by later?_" he asked quickly.

"I might," she said in reply. "It is Friday night, after all," she laughed as Jacob swatted playfully at the screen.

"_We'll save some pizza for you_," he grinned. "_See you, Princess_," he said as Aelita said a farewell and closed her computer screen.

"Aelita, dinner!" Antea called from downstairs.

"I'm coming, mom!" she called back in reply as she walked towards the stairs and smelled the familiar aroma of her mom's homemade spaghetti. "_After all this time, she still remembers my favorite meal…_" Aelita thought as she grinned before heading down the stairs…

Michael Hunter sighed as he pushed open the doorway to his dorm room, having just finished dinner with the Warriors and now planning on taking it easy for the night. He knew the others were planning on having some sort of get-together or party in Jeremy's dorm for a while, but his mind was racing and he needed time to think; time to be alone.

Things just had not quite fit together ever since he had come to Kadic…no, that wasn't quite the right way to describe it, he thought as he sat down on the corner of his bed. He just had not quite fit in. Jeremy had Aelita, and Jacob as a friend. Ulrich and Yumi, Odd, William and Marth; it was like even amongst their group, they had their own subdivisions for when things went wrong, and he just didn't quite fit into any of those divisions yet, he felt as he drummed his fingers softly on the bedframe. Yes, he and Aelita had known each other for a long time, but things had changed; she had her own life, and he had basically stumbled back into it after all this time. He just wanted things to go back to how they were when the two of them were kids, just him and her, even though he knew at this point that that was impossible. "_I just have to keep working until they really let me in…_" he thought to himself as he sighed again.

And then there was everything that had happened to him. The last two weeks or so since he had returned had seemed normal compared to what he had been through previously. Even some of that was still fragmented simply because he had spent so much time in his virtual state. He remembered flashes and bits of his life at the Project Carthage research facility and his childhood with Aelita, but it wasn't really connected, just bits and pieces. He remembered vividly the last day he had seen Aelita, shortly after her mother had been taken by the Men in Black, and it was not but two days later that he had fled because his parents had vanished. He had never found out who had taken them; he always assumed it was the Men in Black, and that they had been being held in the same place as Antea, but now he was certain that this wasn't the case, and he had little hope that they were still alive, especially after seeing the state that Antea had been in when they found her in Siberia. He had gone into survival mode at that point, remotely shutting down his parents' Supercomputer after virtualizing himself to stay out of XANA's clutches. Then XANA had vanished, and he had spent the next year and a half traveling the World Network, with Franz's help, until finally receiving word from Antea that it was safe to come out of hiding and where she and Aelita now were. He had not expected Antea to even be alive at this point, but was truly glad that she was, because she and Franz had been like second parents to him. And now he was here, in France, at Kadic, fighting the same enemy that had been the bane of his existence for his entire life and yet unable to really focus on the fight but rather lost in his own head, trying to make a life for himself and yet unsure of where he really belonged after everything that had happened.

"_Do I really belong here?_" he asked himself silently. "_Or am I just added weight in a situation where everything is already as it should be…_?"

Meanwhile, pulsations emanated from XANA's castle and shook the World Network as the program fought his frustration with being unable to exploit any weakness against the Warriors…

"_I can't understand how we can't win! I have Jacob's weakness! And the others are not truly powerful enough to stop me; they just continue to get lucky! So how…how do I stop them…?_"

"Send me," the boy in white said softly, but with a menace that relayed his readiness to go into battle. "I can take them down easily, and as for Jacob…he and I will settle the score once and for all, and he will be mine to wreak vengeance with at last…"

"_You could not stop him before; what makes you think you can now?_" XANA shot back in a staticky rumble. "_And besides, they cannot find out who you are right now…it's too dangerous for you to risk exposing your identity again so soon. However…I have an idea…_" XANA growled as his red eyes gleamed from the murky fog that concealed him…

On the Desert Replika, a Tower on a lone platform separated from the mainland of the Sector began to glow red…

In the Boiler Room, a thick cloud of black smoke poured out of an empty electrical outlet and divided itself into two, the pair of specters flying through the roof and up towards the School Gates. As they floated along the ground, one shot out ahead and wrapped itself around the ankle of the campus security guard, forcing its way into his nose and mouth and leaving him gagging and unable to speak as he dropped to his knees, the Eye of XANA forming in his pupils a moment later. The second spectre morphed into a shorter figure a moment later, and as it solidified, the form of a teen boy in blue-accented clothes and basketball shoes took shape, the Eye distinctly visible in his eyes and on his forehead. The two walked briskly through the school gates, splitting up and heading towards the Administration building and the Dorms…

"_Well, I guess this is the next best way to take the fight to them…_" the boy in white chuckled wryly as he watched his spectre appear on Earth from the safety of XANA''s castle. "_This should be amusing…_"

Meanwhile, Jacob, Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Marth were lounging in Jeremy's dorm when Jeremy jumped at the sound of a rapid beeping coming from behind him. He swiveled around in his chair and opened his laptop quickly, groaning when he saw the SuperScan.

"Come on, really? It's after 8…" he grumbeled as he stood up and grabbed his coat and laptop. "Duty calls, guys," he said briskly. "XANA's activated a Tower on the Desert Replika…" he started, but was cut off by a scream that could be heard from the other side of campus. "What the…?"

"We'll handle it, Einstein!" Marth and Odd said quickly. "You guys head to the Factory!"

"Got it!" Jeremy and Jacob agreed as the five boys blasted down the dorm stairs, Jacob receiving a text from Hunter as they ran asking what was going on. Jacob shot back a reply saying, "Admin building; XANA's attacking. Go, we're going to the Factory," as he sprinted out the Dorm entrance and headed to the woods with Jeremy and Ulrich, who was busy calling Aelita, right on his heels. Before he made it to the treeline though, a figure burst out of the shadows and rammed into his shoulder, knocking Jacob off-balance, but Jake was able to catch himself and whirl around, punching the figure square in the jaw as he, Jeremy and Ulrich dashed towards the Sewers before the figure could recover enough to go after them. As it stepped out of the shadows, it was revealed to be the spectre of the boy in white, and from XANA's castle, all he could think as he rubbed his jaw was, "_That actually smarted…_"

As Odd and Marth made it to the Admin building, the pair froze for a split second as they heard a screech coming from one of the offices.

"That's coming from Ms. Weber's office!" Odd growled quickly. "Let's go!" he snapped as the two dashed through the double doors and headed for the usually-snappy secretary's office. When they burst through the door, all they saw was the night security guard blast Ms. Weber with an electric shock before standing up, throwing her down to the corner, and moaning menacingly at the two boys.

"Great…can't XANA ever give us an easy fight?" Marth scowled as electricity crackled at the guard's fingertips…

As Hunter burst out of the Dorm entrance and prepared to head towards the Admin building to help Odd and Marth, he was broadsided by a shadowy figure which knocked him onto his back and blasted the wind from his lungs. As he staggered to his feet, Hunter strained his eyes to look at his attacker, and gasped audibly when he saw the boy in white, his eyes menacing and electricity crackling at his fingertips.

"You…" Hunter hissed with as much malice as he could muster…

Meanwhile, Jeremy and the others had managed to make it to the Factory, and Jeremy sprinted to the controls as the others stayed in the elevator, Aelita having met up with them from the Hermitage along the way.

"Head for the Scanners, guys!" he barked as Aelita and Jacob nodded.

Transfer Jacob, Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Aelita!

Scanner Jacob, Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Aelita!

Virtualization!

A few moments later, the trio of Warriors appeared in the Skid dock, and quickly ran to their teleport spots as Jeremy typed in the command code. Just then, Yumi appeared in the elevator, having gotten a text from Jeremy not long ago.

"I'm here, Jeremy!" she panted, out of breath from running the whole way. "William couldn't get out without being caught red-handed, so it's just me!"

"The others are waiting! Head for the Scanners!" Jeremy shot back as she shut the elevator doors quickly.

Transfer Yumi!

Scanner Yumi!

Virtualization!

A moment later, Yumi landed in the Skid dock and dashed to her Teleport spot, where the others were already waiting.

"_Ready, guys? We don't have a lot of time!_" Jeremy emphasized as the four Warriors could hear the clattering of keys in the background. "_Energize!_" he said as the four fighters vanished into pillars of light, appearing with a crackle in their NavSkids a moment later, with Aelita in the pilot's seat.

"Thrusters online! Lights online! Vertical propulsion activated! Cast off; full steam ahead!" Aelita said swiftly as she activated the throttle and the Skid rose out of the hangar and out of the North Pole of Sector Five a moment later. Aelita rotated the Skid into vertical mode, and said "Hold on tight," as the Skid dove at top speed into the Digital Sea…

A few moments later, the Skid blasted out of the Access Gate to Lyoko, and Aelita swiftly punched in a command code as she cried, "Retro Brake!" to slow the Skid to a safe speed. "Lights, activated," she said calmly as she flipped the switch to turn the main headlights on as the Skid sliced quickly through the calm waters of the Digital Sea. "Jeremy, where are we headed?" she asked suddenly as she punched on the sonar and locator systems.

"_The Replika is 20 degrees north of your current bearing. Hit the thrusters and you should be there in about three minutes or so._"

"Roger," Aelita said as she punched on the turbo boosters and cut swiftly through the murky water in front of her. For once during an attack, the Sea was strangely quiet as the gang made it all the way to the Replika's entrance without being ambushed by any of XANA's monsters. Aelita brought the Skid gently up to the entrance of the Replika and rotated it into vertical mode as Jeremy decrypted the lock on the Replika. "Digital Key engaged," Aelita said softly as she punched in the code to the keypad and a beam of light shot out from the Skid and impacted the Eye of XANA on the Access Gate, disappearing as the Eye lit up and the seal was broken. Aelita deftly maneuvered the Skid through the tunnel and out of the Digital Sea as Jeremy chirped, "_Welcome to the Desert Replika, ladies and gentlemen._" She docked the Skid at the first Tower she came to upon reaching the main Sector, and said, "Energize" as she punched in the command code and sat back in her seat, the electrical charge zapping the four Warriors down to the main Sector after a moment's pause. Once the quartet landed, Aelita and Jacob looked at each other before asking simultaneously, "Who's staying to guard the Skid?" Ulrich laughed before replying quickly:

"Yumi and I will stay to guard the Skid. You and Jacob go deactivate the Tower!"

"Okay, Ulrich. Be safe," Jacob said as he gave his friend a quick thump to the shoulder before he and Aelita sprinted off to a nearby path in the direction of the Tower. Ulrich and Yumi just sat down in front of the Skid; Ulrich sighing as he made himself "comfortable".

"And now…we wait for XANA to come to us…" he scowled darkly…

"Unh!" Odd screamed as he was hit in the chest by a lightning bolt from the security guard and landed, dazed, in the corner of Ms. Weber's cluttered office. Marth growled deeply as he got up and charged the security guard.

"Get away from him!" Marth hissed as he threw a punch at the guard's jaw, but as he was possessed by XANA, he phased out of existence for half a second and reformed behind Marth, grabbing the red-haired boy by the throat as he delivered a particularly nasty shock to him. "Urghhhh…" Marth spluttered as he tried to gasp for breath…

"Traitor!" Hunter screamed as he launched from a fighting stance, aiming for the boy's throat, but the spectre just laughed statically as he wisped out of the way and stood over Hunter as he fell to the ground.

"Not so tough now, are you?" he screeched in a distorted tone as he landed a perfectly-placed blow with the palm of his hand between Hunter's shoulder blades, causing the boy to scream in pain as his eyes went bloodshot with fury and throbbing pain. Hunter just moaned in anguish as he tried to move, but the boy just held Hunter there, increasing the force on Hunter's back as the black-haired boy gasped a ragged breath through the screaming pain in his back and chest.

"You…won't get away…with this…" he rasped as the boy leaned over to gaze into Hunter's striking blue eyes with his distorted amber ones…

"Oh, really?" he asked sweetly. "Well, it looks like you're wrong there, Maverick," he laughed cruelly as he delivered a paralyzing shock through Hunter's body. "I already have…"

Meanwhile, Jacob and Aelita had managed to make it to within sight of the activated Tower, and Jacob growled menacingly as he saw that it was perched on a small island.

"Vehicles, Einstein?" he asked as Jeremy nodded.

"_Overwheel, coming up!_" the brainiac replied as Jacob's silver vehicle appeared in a matter of seconds. He hopped on as Aelita took to the sky, and the two landed a moment later on the platform where the Tower stood. As they took a step towards the Tower, Jacob felt a wave of unease pass over him as the sandy surface in front of the Tower began to swirl…

"Uh, Jeremy, we've got company!" Ulrich growled as five Tarantulas and a trio of Krabes swarmed the Tower where the Skid was docked, surrounding Ulrich and Yumi from all sides. Ulrich pulled out his sabres and Yumi her fans as they stared down their adversaries…

"So we're gonna do this the hard way, hm?" Yumi said with malice as she threw her fans at one of the Tarantulas, who leveled its forearms and began to return laser fire…

"Jeremy, what is that thing?" Aelita shrieked as a giant, dark brown spiked worm with a flattened head and spiked jaws erupted from the quicksand whirlpool, flailing its body around violently as it stared at the two Warriors with menacing green eyes. Its metallic looking tongue began to glow red, and Jacob's eyes widened as he shoved Aelita out of the way…

"Laser cannon! Get down!" Jacob screamed as the massive red blast impacted the ground right where the pair had been standing not a moment ago. Jacob hopped back on his Overwheel and Aelita reactivated her wings as the two took to the skies to get out of range of the worm's terrible cannon. "Jeremy, what in Lyoko's name _IS _that thing and how in the world are we supposed to destroy it?" Jacob screamed as he dodged another flailed blast from the sand worm's laser.

"_I'm trying to find out, just gimme a sec here…_" Jeremy muttered as he scanned the Supercomputer's database for information, his fingers racing over the keys as he typed…

"HURRY, genius! We can only dodge lasers for so long!" he shrieked in reply as he dove and blasted a fireball at the worm's body. It impacted, but the foul beast seemed completely unaffected by the flames as it shrieked and turned towards Jacob, but was unable to get a laser blast off before he blasted back to safety in the air.

"_Okay, got it! Apparently, that thing is called a Moldorm; a sand worm created by XANA that lives in a quicksand whirlpool. Their laser cannon is their main line of defense, and it deals 80 Life Points damage in one shot!_"

"Okay, Einstein, cut to the chase; how do we kill it?" Jacob growled, really irritated at dodging lasers by this time.

"_There should be a huge Eye of XANA on its head, between the jaws; you see it?_" Jeremy asked quickly as Aelita flew around to the other side of the worm and yelled, "I see the Eye!"

"_Great! It won't be easy, but what it will take is a blade or something vicious that can rent the Eye; a simple blast or Energy Field impacting it won't be enough to take it out!_"

"Roger that, Einstein!" Jacob shot back as he formed his Energy Sword and solidified it a moment later, using his other hand to steer his Overwheel as he gained altitude to make sure he and Aelita were out of the Moldorm's laser range. "Princess, can you draw its fire long enough for me to swoop in close enough to slice the Eye? As long as one of us makes it, we can deactivate the Tower no problem."

"My pleasure," Aelita grinned as she spiral-dove down towards the Moldorm's head, blasting Energy Fields as she went to get its attention while Jacob circled around to get close to its head… "Hey, ugly! Wanna play?" she taunted as the Moldorm shrieked and pointed its head directly at Aelita, charging its laser cannon and exposing the Eye on top of its flattened head directly to Jacob's waiting strike as he positioned his Overwheel directly above the behemoth before diving off of it, his blade pointed straight down at the center of the Eye on the giant worm's head…

"GYAHH!" he screamed as he dove towards the beast and plunged his blade directly into the center of the Eye, letting go of his blade and flipping backwards towards the Sector below as the Moldorm shrieked in agony, writhing and squirming as its giant toothed jaws opened and closed mindlessly. It froze suddenly and fell to the ground, barely missing crushing Jacob on its way down as it shook the entire island before dissolving into a puddle of sand, which disappeared after a moment as Jacob hit the ground solidly, devirtualizing on contact as he groaned in pain…

"That gives new meaning to the phrase 'falling to your doom'…" the brunette scoffed from the floor of the Scanner as he rubbed his shoulder, his right arm aching where he had landed on his shoulder upon impact…

"Ahaha!" the boy in white shrieked maniacally as he hoisted Hunter up by the front collar of his shirt, the Warrior's blue gaze dull even as he glared defiantly at his attacker. "Had enough yet?" he growled as Hunter scoffed through the pain and a spark returned to his eye…

"NEVER!" he screeched in agony as he lunged forward and impacted his forehead into the spectre-boy's head with a sickening crunch as the stunned demon released his grip on Hunter's shirt. The black-haired Warrior dropped to the ground and staggered to his feet, managing to find some last vestige of energy as he managed to take off running towards the Sewer entrance in the woods. The boy just watched his adversary run, almost smirking at the outcome of the fight as he shook his head…

"_Well, I guess Hunter's still got some fire in him…_" the boy in white growled from the shadows of XANA's castle as he allowed his spectre to melt away into the ground…

"_Aelita, you okay?_" Jeremy asked in concern as Aelita watched the last remnants of the worm vanish into the sandy floor of the Sector.

"Yeah, I'm good!" she replied as she dashed into the Tower after a moment's pause…

"GRAHH!" Odd screamed as the maniacally-laughing security guard shot pulse after pulse of wicked electricity into his frail body; an already-unconscious Marth crumpled in the corner next to one of Ms. Weber's bookcases…

AELITA

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated…" Aelita murmured as the screens of the Tower began to fall around her, not noticing as a nearly invisible wave of energy shot up from the bottom of the Tower and pulsed through the Sector…

"Unh…" the security guard gasped as XANA's spectre wisped from is body and vanished, falling to the ground in a heap as Odd's eyes flickered before fluttering shut, both his and Marth's breathing very irregular…

"Maverick!" Jeremy gasped as the black-haired boy emerged from the elevator, his hands and face bloodied and bruised and his shirt ripped in multiple places.

"Jeremy…we need a Return Trip…Odd and Marth were stuck fighting the security…security guard that XANA possessed and…unh…" the boy groaned as he finally passed out in the floor. Jeremy's eyes widened as he turned to the keyboard and raced to punch in the necessary command codes…

"Return to the Past now!" he cried as the familiar white bubble blasted out from the Supercomputer and erased the events of the past hours…

Twenty-four hours earlier…

"Come on in, guys," Aelita smiled as the gang slowly filed in to her refinished bedroom and gasped at the result of the work that had been put into repairing it. "Looks nice, hm?" she asked as Ulrich and Marth nodded soundlessly.

"Looks like home," Hunter smiled as Aelita beamed at her friends' reactions. Jeremy sat down on the edge of Aelita's dark pink bed and turned to Hunter, Jacob, and Aelita, his eyes gleaming.

"I was scanning back over the system readings this morning after the attack, and I came across an anomaly in the Digital Sea. I showed it to your mom, Aelita, and she and I had an idea. Maverick told us that the encryptions locking your father in the Core are too strong for the Supercomputer alone to break the locks, simply because even our Supercomputer doesn't possess near the quantum power necessary to process the locks keeping your father protected from XANA…"

"I know that, Jeremy; is there a point there somewhere?" Aelita asked in a slightly cross tone.

"Getting there," he replied as Maverick muttered to her to be patient. "So, Antea and I were brainstorming ideas and when I performed the DeepScan, I saw that the Desert Replika, to put it simply, was lit up like a Christmas tree with energy readings!" he exclaimed breathlessly as he continued. "XANA must have had to put a ton of energy into it to create the Moldorm, so that got me thinking, if our Supercomputer alone can't do the job…"

"Why not use more!" Aelita exclaimed as she jumped up and hugged her boyfriend. "Jeremy, you're a genius!" she cried happily as Hunter scoffed.

"It won't be that easy. Jeremy and I have to work on writing a program that will allow us to take control of XANA's Replikas and use them for our own purposes. It's going to take some time…"

"I don't care if it takes time, you two…" she replied with a straight-laced tone. "All I care about is a plan that will bring my father home. At least now…"

"We have some semblance of a plan…" Jacob finished as he gritted his teeth for the grueling job that was ahead for the entire gang…

Next time…

**Episode 128: Crisis (1)**

A personal crisis strikes one of the Lyoko Warriors, and threatens to separate the gang due to its severity and nature. Which Warrior is affected, and how will this disaster affect the gang in the fight against XANA? Find out next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	6. Episode 128:  Crisis

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Code: Lyoko…wish I did, though. I do own my OCs, though.**

**A/N: This two-parter is on a mission to make me cry, I think. I didn't put a lot of the teary-eyed sadness in the first half, but I already know how it's gonna end, so I'm trying not to get too emotional with it. After all, it is just a story…well…my story. =D Anyways, enjoy the newest chapter of Code Lyoko: Unleashed…**

**Episode 128: Crisis (1)**

In a small home in Italy...

"Sarah, dear, would you run and grab the meat from the freezer so I can make dinner?" a blond-haired woman with purple highlights in her hair called loudly over the noise of a television from the living room. On the couch, a seven or eight-year-old girl with striking, almost platinum-blond hair rolled her eyes and set her book down on the side table before getting up and trudging her way into the kitchen.

"I'll get it, Mom..." she growled in response under her breath, obviously perturbed at being disturbed as she walked out to the garage to get the food her mother requested from the freezer. As she opened the freezer and shuffled through the icy packages, she did not hear a crash come from the kitchen, accompanied by a faint gasp. Sarah finished getting the food items and shut the freezer, walking back into the house as she chirped, "I've got the food right..." she stopped as she looked down at the floor and saw shards of glass on the floor from a shattered platter, but as her eyes traveled to the base of the sink, she froze and gasped sharply when she saw her mother slumped unmoving against the corner of the kitchen, her eyes closed and her skin pale...

"MOM!" the young girl shrieked as she raced over to her mother's side, her scream alerting the other four girls who were upstairs to the nature of the situation...

"Morning, everybody!" Aelita chirped as she sat down to join the Warriors for breakfast.

"Morning!" Jacob and Yumi replied as the gang busily devoured their food.

"Ha, for once, Odd's not the only one eating like a superhuman," Jeremy laughed as he came up behind Aelita and slipped an arm around her waist for a brief moment before the pair sat down side-by-side.

"So, I was thinking tonight, after classes, we could all go see a movie together," Yumi suggested as Aelita nodded. "It's been so long since we actually got to just do something fun as a group that Aelita and I figured it would be a good idea." Jacob warmly smiled at the thought of actually being able to have a nigh with his friends that didn't involve some sort of XANA attack, and Odd and Marth both let out small whoops as the pinkette laughed at their enthusiasm.

"Sounds like we have a winning idea," the girls laughed as Jeremy nodded.

"It will be nice to finally get out and _do_ something again," he murmured as Ulrich looked over first at Jeremy, and then to Jacob, whose gaze was flitting around the room as he twirled his fork anxiously. He laid a hand on the purple-clad boy's shoulder, and Jacob flinched slightly at the contact before turning and realizing it was only Ulrich.

"Jacob, you okay?" Ulrich asked softly. "You seemed really lost."

"What? Oh...I guess I was lost in my own head...I'm waiting for something to happen that's going to ruin our night. You have to admit, it _always_ happens," he sighed as Ulrich scoffed.

"True, but look on the bright side for once; let's just focus on having a fun night, deal?" Ulrich asked as Jacob nodded and relaxed.

"Okay," he said as he allowed a faint smile to cross his lips. Jeremy saw this soft exchange and sighed softly. Jacob had been through so much, and as much as he said he was okay, Jeremy could tell that he was still struggling with letting his guard fully down. Jacob looked around and furrowed his brow when he didn't see Hunter or William anywhere around. "Hey, anyone know where our favorite two shadows are?" he asked in a much brighter tone, earning a faint smile from Yumi and Aelita as the pinkette shook her head.

"Haven't seen either of them this morning," she replied as Yumi let out a small, "Oh!"

"William had to study this morning for an exam in Physics. I think Hunter went with him to do some research for Mrs. Hertz's class...I think he said?" she finished, phrasing the last part in a question as she couldn't quite remember. Aelita nodded and was about to go find the boys as the bell rang and the entire gang got up.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing them shortly; at least, I'd hope so," Ulrich laughed as Marth scoffed at the idea of either of the two skipping class and the gang split up to head to another boring stretch of classes...

After classes were over, the whole gang met up at the crossroads to head into town, save for Jacob, who came sprinting up to join them after being held up in his Statistics class.

"Whoa, there, genius...slow down!" William chuckled as Jacob skidded to a stop in front of the bench, nearly toppling over as Ulrich and Odd laughed at his enthusiasm and Aelita steadied him before he fell over. The purple-clad Warrior smiled gratefully as he winced at the slight pain in his ankle.

"Ouch, I think that wasn't the smartest idea..." he chuckled as Aelita laid a hand on his shoulder to make sure he was okay, and Jacob nodded as he grinned at the gang. "Ready for some fun tonight?" he asked as smiles lit up the whole group's faces.

"You know we are, Einstein!" Odd grinned as he pulled out their movie tickets. "Opening night tickets to _The Nightmare Down Under_!" he said with a glint in his eye as Ulrich laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

"We'd better hurry into town; there won't be any seats left otherwise!" he laughed as the gang murmured their agreement and headed for the School Gates...

In an ambulance on the way to an Italian hospital...

"Ma'am, do you have any family you need to call? This may not turn out the way we are hoping..." the paramedic said to an older girl with blond hair as she sat nervously next to her mom in the ambulance.

"Yes, let me make a quick phone call..." she said nervously as she picked up her cell hone and dialed the first number in her contacts...

At the movie theatre...

"Come on; let's hurry!" Odd laughed as he raced ahead of the others, not feeling his phone vibrate as he was too focused on getting inside to watch the movie with his friends. All of a sudden, he stopped, feeling a pang of unease cross his heart as Jacob walked over to him and saw the odd look in his eye.

"Odd, you okay?" he asked in concern as Odd shook his head quickly to clear his thoughts and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine, man; it was nothing," he grinned. "Let's go be scared stiff!" he joked as the nine friends made their way into the theatre and to their seats...

Meanwhile...

"Come on, dimwit...pick up!" the girl growled under her breath, knowing the wrath she would be expecting if he didn't find out about what was happening until after the fact...

One hour later...

"Master, do you have a plan?" Taelia asked softly...and almost nervously as she gazed at XANA's crimson eyes boring out of the dark fog around his throne. She was expecting the program's wrath after their failure to stop Jacob the previous missions. But instead, she just got a cool, crisp laugh in response as XANA's gaze flared in frustration.

"_I'm working on that part, my dear..._" he hissed back in reply. _"They have a plan to rescue Franz, I believe, and we will be ready for them. But, for now, if you'd like, we can certainly slow them up a little bit..._" he hissed sweetly as his eyes glowed and a Tower went red in the Mountain Sector...

CRACK! The Warriors jumped up with a start as a sharp spark came from the back of the theatre and the camera lens burst in the middle of the movie.

"Hey!" Odd growled with a start. "Just when it was getting good!" he snapped as the group of nine made their way quickly out the emergency exit and looked around to see townspeople everywhere around them frightened and clamoring as they tried to get to their cars and get to safety, and as the gang observed all the buildings around them, realized...

"The entire city's blacked out!" William exclaimed as Jeremy pulled out his laptop and scanned quickly through the screens, grimacing as he saw an activated Tower alert on the SuperScan.

"Yeah, I can't imagine why..." Einstein growled. "Activated Tower in the Mountain Sector..." he trailed off as he saw Odd's eyes widen, looking intently at his phone with a glimmer of worry in them.

"Odd, something wrong, buddy?" Ulrich asked, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Five voicemails and thirteen calls while we were in the movie..." he murmured worriedly as he scrolled through them quickly. "From my sisters...all but Sarah tried to call me!" he exclaimed, his voice rising in a panic as he quickly listened to his voicemail, his face displaying heartbreak with every passing second as he began to shake uncontrollably before a tear dripped from his eye.

"Odd, what is it? What's wrong?" Marth asked in concern as Odd mustered enough to mutter a tear-choked reply...

"My mom's in the hospital...the doctors think she's had a heart attack..." he choked in a small whisper as his shoulders slumped, the normally confident prankster smaller than the gang had ever seen him as Ulrich and Aelita each put a hand around his shoulder to try and comfort him, but knowing there wasn't a lot they could do at this moment.

"We'll take him back to the dorm," Aelita said softly as Ulrich held up a nearly-crying Odd, the prankster weak and slumped on his shoulder. "Jacob, can you handle the Tower?" she asked as Jacob nodded.

"We'll take care of it; you two take care of him," Jacob said softly as he softly squeezed Odd's shoulder as a gesture of reassurance. "Be strong..." Jacob whispered as the gang split up and he led the others towards the Factory...

Once the six Warriors arrived, Marth quickly looked at Jacob with a perplexed glance, and asked, "Einstein, I just thought; if power's out to the city, how do we run Lyoko?" Jeremy just laughed at the simplicity and Jacob smiled.

"Factory runs on its own generators, and even if the generators were out, the Supercomputer runs on a uranium power source, so we would have power one way or the other regardless. Don't fret, my friend," Jacob said as he smiled, and in the darkness of the Factory entrance, his smile looked almost enigmatic as Hunter chuckled under his breath. The gang quickly headed for the elevator, and Jacob hit the button to send them off. Jeremy got off at the Computer lab with Hunter and said, "Head for the Scanners!" as the Elevator doors closed and he sat down at the Supercomputer, hooking up his headset as Hunter pulled up the chair that Jacob normally used so he could look over Jeremy's shoulder.

"For Odd?" he asked, looking intently at Jeremy as the brainiac met his gaze with an equally confident one.

"For Odd," he agreed as he typed in the command codes to start the procedure...

Transfer Jacob, Transfer Marth!

Scanner Jacob, Scanner Marth!

Virtualization!

Transfer Yumi, Transfer William!

Scanner Yumi, Scanner William!

Virtualization!

A moment later, the four Warriors appeared over the Mountain Sector and dropped to the ground, quickly scanning the area around them before Jacob asked Jeremy, "Which way, Einstein?"

"_Tower's 30 degrees north of your current position! About..._"

"500 yards off?" Yumi estimated as she eyeballed the distance between themselves and the glowing Tower that she could now see after adjusting her gaze to the bearing Jeremy had specified.

"_Exactly! How'd you know, Yumi?_" Einstein asked as Yumi scoffed in humor.

"Because I'm looking at it, genius!" she shot back as the quartet took off running towards the Tower, following a winding path over the Digital Sea that connected the two sections of mainland. She didn't even flinch when she saw a large stone sealing the path off in front of her, just placed her fingertips to her temples as she ran and used her Telekinesis to lift the rock away and threw it into the Digital Sea without a second glance as the other three followed quickly behind her. Jacob thought to himself, "_This is going down quickly because we have a purpose...moreso than before..._" A few moments of silent sprinting passed before the quartet rounded the corner to full-view of the Tower, and ran into a face-full of monsters in the process. Taelia stood in the center of the monsters, surrounded by four Tarantulas, four Hornets, and a Megatank. She just smirked as she saw her adversaries approach, hovering slightly off of the ground as she laughed.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you dimwits to show up," she cackled evilly as the four Warriors tensed up and prepared for battle. "Attack!" she growled as the monsters surrounding her sprang to action.

"William, Marth, split the Tarantulas! Yumi, take the Hornets! The flower princess is mine..." Jacob growled menacingly as Jeremy laughed, because Aelita herself had said the exact same thing the last time she had faced Taelia...

The four Warriors split, and William and Marth faced down the four Tarantuals with fury in their eyes, the beasts squawking as they leveled their lasers and fired on the duo. Marth raised his battle axe and absorbed the lasers while William cried, "Super Smoke!" and vanished in a flash of silver to avoid the blasts. He reformed behind one of the brutes and let out a battle cry as he swung his Zweihander and sliced clean through it, letting out a yelp of pain immediately after as he was blindsided by a series of shots from the second Tarantula. He looked over at Marth, who had drawn the other two Tarantulas away, and then turned to the Tarantula facing him, which growled and leveled its lasers as William raised his Zweihander.

"So, you wanna do this the hard way, then?" he asked as the brute began to fire a hail of lasers at him. William used his Zweihander to deflect the blasts at the cliff behind the Tarantula, which looked up and shrieked when the laser blasts dislodged a chunk of the cliff above its head and the rockfall fell solidly onto the beast, crushing it and causing it to explode a moment later. Satisfied with this outcome, William leaned against his sword and stared at the place where the Tarantula had stood with a grim smile. "Told you it was gonna be the hard way..." he growled.

"Hunh!" Marth grunted as he leveled his battle axe to absorb a flurry of lasers from the Tarantula pair, actually being pushed back a couple of inches by the force of the blast as he panted, trying to regain his breath.

"You're not gonna take me down that easily," he hissed as he charged in to meet the first Tarantula, swinging his ax mightily and deflecting one of the laser blasts fired at him back at the Tarantula, however the deflection was at an odd angle and sailed over the Tarantula's head as Marth just shrugged his shoulders, somersaulted forward and sliced upward with his ax, renting the Tarantula's head almost in two and causing it to shriek as Marth dove backwards, the brute exploding a moment later as Marth pumped a fist in the air in triumph. But his triumph was short-lived as he screamed in shock when a barrage of lasers hit him in the back, forcing him to his knees and causing him to devirtualize as the last Tarantula just cocked it's head and let out a small shriek.

"Just wonderful..." Marth growled as he stumbled up from the floor of the Scanner...

"Hiyahh!" Yumi hissed as she flung her fans at the swarm of Hornets surrounding her, wincing as she was clipped by an acid spray from one of the flying insects. She froze as the Hornets charged their lasers, knowing that what she was about to do was suicide if she couldn't pull it off. She curled her fans close to her, and just as the bugs fired simultaneous laser shots at her, she sprung straight up off the ground, yelling a battle cry as she spiraled her arms out from her sides, sending off her fans in a tornadic spin that saw the fans slice through all four Hornets as Yumi dropped back to the ground, but she screamed as her fall was intercepted by the elliptical laser of a Megatank, and she was blasted sideways as her body fragmented...

"Ugh!" she hissed in frustration as she punched the side wall of the Scanner...

"Oh, no you don't!" William hissed as he charged the Megatank and drew his Zweihander, hoping to strike it before it could get off a blast as it's protective casing opened, but he never had a chance as he saw a glint of red from the corner of his eye and never had time to react as the remaining Tarantula that he had forgotten about pummeled him with a laser barrage, devirtualizing him on impact...

Meanwhile...

"Well, well, well...our favorite Warrior's decided he wants to come play with me," Taelia hissed in a sing-songy voice as Jacob growled and formed twin Energy Fields. "Ooh, someone's feisty..." she smirked as Jacob fired the orbs, easily deflecting them with her whip as she smiled. "That all you got?" she asked with an evil grin as she took to the skies, showering him with a barrage of rose petals as Jacob leaped back in shock, barely able to dodge the razor petals as he was intercepted by a laser shot from the Tarantula that Marth and William had failed to destroy. "Ungh!" Jacob groaned as he hit the ground, trying to scurry out of the way of the Tarantula, but having no luck as the Megatank rolled over to block his escape route. Jacob just cursed in frustration as he tried to think of a way out, none coming to him as both brutes charged their lasers...

"Dark Fire!" he heard from behind the two brutes as he saw twin pulses of blue flame blast into the Eyes on both monsters, causing the Tarantula to grunt in shock as both beasts exploded, causing Jacob to look over and see Hunter sprinting towards the alcove.

"I didn't think I was getting out of that mess," he said gratefully as Hunter pulled him to his feet.

"Ha, looks like you owe me one this time," the blue-haired Warrior grinned as Jacob nodded.

"You can collect later," he said quickly as he saw Taelia coming towards them with a menacing glare on her face. "You want to take the flower princess, or shall I?" he asked instantaneously.

"She's all yours," the raven replied as he dived backwards to avoid a whiplash from Taelia's thorned weapon as Jacob faced her down expectantly.

"Now, where were we, _my dear_?" he asked, putting as much icy venom as he could muster into the last two words as Taelia shrieked and dived for the brunette, who just smiled and murmured, "So predictable..." as he formed his Energy Blade without so much as a second thought and plunged it through Taelia's shoulder as she continued to crash towards him, corkscrewing the blade upwards as the pink-haired girl shrieked before exploding into a cloud of pink and black smoke. Jacob just smiled grimly as he said, "And that's why you don't mess with me..." Hunter came up to him and nodded as Jacob dissolved his sword before looking over at the Tower, glowing menacingly at him as Hunter said, "Go..."

Jacob ran through the Tower's surface, leaving a trail of purple ripples in his wake as he reached the center of the platform and closed his eyes, allowing himself to float up slowly to the second platform. He landed softly on the upper platform, the Eye on its surface glowing under his touch as he walked up to the Interface...

JACOB

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated..." he said softly as the screens fell around him and the lights slowly began to filter back on in Kadic City. When the lights flickered back on around the grounds, Odd and Aelita stopped for a brief moment as they watched the lights flicker on in the Dormitory entrance, Odd mumbling, "They did it..." as he, Ulrich and Aelita headed upstairs, knowing in his heart that he was about to face the toughest thing he had ever experienced as he let a tear drip from the corner of his eye...

LW94: Awh…and so the teary-eyed sadness starts… I have all the sympathy in the world for Odd, considering I've been through some loss myself, just of a different kind. Anyways, and I hate to do this to you guys, but I am leaving for a trip to Indiana over the New Year's holiday tomorrow…so you guys will have to go an entire week stuck with this cliffhanger! Did I plan it that way? No. Am I evil enough to let you guys suffer and wait though? Absolutely! ;) See you guys in a week, my faithful readers!

Next time:

**Episode 129: Departure (2)**

With the Warriors reeling from a crisis that affects one of their own, they will have to come together to help their friend as Odd prepares to make a heart-wrenching choice that will change his life and the lives of his friends…next time…on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	7. Episode 129:  Departure

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Code Lyoko…still.**

**A/N: And the two-parter became a three-parter. I do too well at this sometimes… Haha, READ AND REVIEW!**

**Episode 129: Departure (2)**

"_Odd, thank goodness you finally picked up! I was so worried I wouldn't get hold of you and..._"

"I'm here, Marie, don't panic..." he replied dully as he sat down on his bed, Aelita and Ulrich helping him to pack a suitcase as he continued. "What in the hell happened?" he asked as Marie took a deep breath; Odd could tell by her shaky breathing that she had been crying.

"_I'm not a hundred percent sure, little brother. Sarah was helping Mom cook dinner and she came back and Mom was passed out on the floor in a puddle of glass; I think she dropped one of her cooking platters when she went down. She's in surgery now; the doctor told me that he thought Mom had a heart attack, and that the scans showed a blocked artery..._"

"Marie...oh my gosh...how are the others holding up?" Odd asked frailly as Marie coughed and choked out a slow response.

"_Louise and Elisabeth weren't here when it happened, but they met us at the hospital. They're staying strong for Sarah, but I know deep down, they're just as worried as I am. Pauline and Adėle are struggling though. It's not exactly pretty here, Odd..._"

"Yeah...I can tell..."

"_Sarah needs you here...honestly..._" Marie choked back tears as she struggled to continue... "_We could all use you here..._" she whispered as a tear dripped down Odd's cheek.

"I'll talk to Principal Delmas and see what I can do, okay?"

"_Okay. I'll call with any news, little brother,_" Marie said.

"Okay, sis. Be strong, and I'll be there as soon as I can…" he whispered as he hung up the phone and took a shaky breath, Aelita placing a hand on his shoulder as the others came in.

"How is she, Odd?" Jeremy asked instantly as the others gathered around his bed.

"Not well…" Odd sighed. "She's in surgery now. Marie said she'll call as soon as she has any news."

"You should be there…" William sighed.

"I know, but what about school? I'm already on the edge of passing as it is! If I miss any time…" Odd trailed off, fuming at the situation as Marth looked sympathetically at him.

"Delmas isn't _that_ unreasonable," Ulrich said reassuringly. "If we explain the situation, I'm sure he'll help you come up with a way to work things out…"

The next morning, in the Principal's office…

"Absolutely not, Della Robbia! Your grades are on the edge of horrible as it is, and I'm afraid if you miss any more time from your classes, you will be repeating this year, and I'm not about to let that happen!"

"But, please sir! You have to understand! I wouldn't be asking for a leave of absence if I didn't have a really important reason!"

"Oh? And what reason is so important that you have to leave Kadic this suddenly?" Delmas asked with a stern glare on his face as Odd gulped and began shaking as he looked up at Delmas with genuine tears in his eyes.

"It's… It's my mother, sir. She's taken ill in the hospital in Italy…my sister called me last night in a panic. The doctors said she had a heart attack and they're worried that she may not make it through…she's out of surgery but…" Odd stopped, unable to finish his sentence as Delmas' gaze immediately softened at the panicked boy in front of him.

"I…I'm sorry, Della Robbia, I honestly had no idea what was going on. I may be strict here at Kadic, but never let it be said that I'm unreasonable. I wish you had come to me the moment you found out what was happening."

"I would have sir, but it was late last night when I found out and I was afraid you wouldn't be available or that…" Odd stopped as Delmas waved a hand in front of him as if to clear the air.

"Now, I may be a lot of things, and I apologize if I make it seem as though I don't care about the well-being of the students here, but I can promise you that that is not the case. I'll talk to the Administrative council. This isn't the first time something of this nature has happened to a student. You have my permission to take leave to Italy for as long as you need to help your mother. Just please; keep me informed as to how things are going so the staff here can keep your family in our thoughts. Now, as for your schoolwork…" Odd gulped as Delmas continued, "I will have your teachers transmit your notes and assignments by email so that you can complete your work while you're gone, and your absences will be considered excused, on the condition that you take your exams on the same day as everyone else when you return…"

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much, sir!" Odd said gratefully and with a sigh of relief as he jumped up and hugged Delmas, who was taken off-guard as Odd took a step back and plastered an unreadable expression on his face.

"Now, sir, I do have one more request, if it's possible. It's about how I'm going to care for my mom…"

Back in the dorm rooms…

"I hope everything's going okay…" Ulrich said worriedly as he sat on his bed, bouncing a tennis ball off the wall as Marth and Jeremy sat with him. All of a sudden, the door clicked and Aelita walked in, sitting down next to Jeremy as she looked around.

"Odd's still not back?" she asked quizzically as Ulrich shook his head.

"No… I'm a little worried," he admitted. "I know how Delmas can get sometimes. I just hope for once…" he was cut off by the sound of the door opening, and Ulrich's had snapped around to see Odd come in the room, an expression of mixed emotion on his face as he sat down.

"I just talked to Marie again," he started slowly. "The doctors have put Mom in a coma while her body attempts to heal. She's out of surgery, but they don't know how long they're going to have to keep her out while her body rests."

"Oh, Odd…" Aelita said sadly as she put an arm around her friend.

"It's okay, Aelita…" he replied. "As for what I'm going to do…I thought about what William said last night. And he's right; I need to be there, not just for my mom but for my sisters. With my dad being away on military assignment I'm all they've got right now…" Odd trailed off as Jeremy snapped his fingers in front of him.

"Odd, don't you dare feel bad about being gone!" Einstein said sharply, but still with caring in the tone as Odd smiled briefly at the genius. "You do what you have to do; we can handle things here. And I promise that we'll keep you updated on everything that's happening here."

"Guys, you're the best…" Odd said softly as Yumi and William came in to join them.

"Hey, prankster, how are things?" Yumi asked gently.

"I'm headed to Italy to be with my family…" Odd said softly as Marth and Ulrich shared a glance and then looked specifically at Odd.

"We're going with you," they said at exactly the same time as Jeremy and Aelita's jaws dropped simultaneously and Odd just looked at them before raising his eyebrows quizzically.

"Guys…"

"Don't argue with me, Odd," Ulrich shot back. "I'm your best friend, and I've known you longer than anybody. And besides, you've told me that your older sisters all have to work, and I know that Sarah won't be able to do much for your mom once she gets out of the hospital. She will get out of the hospital, Odd," he added when Odd tried to interject. "Which leaves most of the work up to you, dimwit. And that's not gonna happen," he finished. "Hence, I'm going with you. And Marth…I think he sees a lot of you in himself," he pointed out as Marth nodded. "He only wants to help too." At this display of unbridled friendship, Odd couldn't hold back a tear from his eye as he looked up and smiled at his friends.

"You two…thank you…that means so much to me. But truthfully…I knew you would say that," he admitted sheepishly as Ulrich said, "WHAT?" "Chill out, Ulrich, let me finish!" Odd snapped as Ulrich let his shoulders relax. "When I was talking to Delmas this morning, I asked him if I could have permission for one of my friends to be excused to go with me to help me care for my mom and my sister."

"Wait, one?" Ulrich said suddenly as Odd nodded.

"Yes, Ulrich, one. And that's why you're staying here," he said simply as William's eyes widened in shock and Aelita gave Odd a stunned glance. "Listen, I care too much about you to let you throw away everything you've worked for because of me." Ulrich opened his mouth to argue, but Odd stopped him as he went on. "Your grades are the best they've ever been here at Kadic and I'm not going to let you jeopardize that, especially since your father's actually halfway pleased with you for once in his life," Odd muttered as Ulrich mumbled something in agreement. "So I got Delmas to agree to let Marth come with me to Italy. We just have to make sure we do the work while we're over there, and we have to take finals the same time you guys do. But we'll be back. You can count on that!" he finished with his usual cheerful grin as Ulrich ran over and hugged his best friend. Odd returned the hug and Ulrich whispered, "You'd better come back soon. Or else you'll have me to deal with." Odd just chuckled as the two stood up and Marth said, "I'd better run and pack a bag! And call my parents! I know I board here year-round but still; they'll want to know where I'm going!" he chimed as Aelita laughed and he ran out of the Dorm room.

"So, Odd, when does your flight leave?" Yumi asked as Odd pulled out his ticket to check.

"Two hours. I've got Marth's ticket too; Marie paid for the tickets this morning," he explained.

"I'll call my dad," Jeremy added as he pulled out his phone. "He can take us all to the airport," he added as Odd shot him a glance. "What? You didn't think we'd let you go without seeing you off, did you?" he asked as Odd laughed and began to gather his things… (**A/N: Yes, Jeremy's dad now has an SUV capable of holding the nine Warriors. Don't question it…**)

Ninety minutes later, the entire gang, including Hunter, who Odd had filled in on the way and who had reminded him, "You'd better come back in one piece, and soon; you're a Lyoko Warrior, and our group just wouldn't be the same without you," were gathered at the airport terminal to see Odd and Marth off. Ulrich was the first to hug his best friend, whispering something in his ear before straightening up and turning to Marth, patting him on the back and thanking him for looking out for Odd. Yumi and Aelita each hugged both boys, and Aelita told Odd, "You'd better call. Every day, you hear?" as she let her eyes tear up at the thought of not being able to see one of her best friends, the prankster, one of the people who had been by her side since the very beginning of her time (again) on Earth, for who knows how long. Odd got a pat on the back from William, who broke his usually-stoic features to chuckle and wish the pair well on their trip. Jeremy was next, and the brainiac smiled when he offered his comment.

"Now Odd, I know you…just try not to get into _too_ much trouble while you're gone!"

"Hah! In your dreams, Einstein!" Odd laughed, though giving Jeremy a look that said, "_I'll be fine_" as he turned to Hunter, who gave a faint smile and simply wished the two good luck as Odd turned finally to Jacob. The purple-clad Warrior walked softly over to Odd and smiled before giving him a warm embrace and whispering in his ear, "Be safe…we'll miss you…" Odd smiled, hiding the expression in Jacob's shoulder before straightening and giving him a pat on the back.

"I will be, buddy. You can count on that," he grinned as the last call sounded for their flight. "Well, we got a plane to catch!" Odd said to the gang as he and Marth grabbed their bags and headed into the terminal towards their plane. "Hasta la vista, amigos!" he called back as the gang waved and called their good-byes to the two departing Warriors, each silently hoping the pair would return quickly as they went out of sight…

Thirty minutes later…

"Bye, Dad!" Jeremy yelled after his father's rapidly departing SUV. He turned back to the gang as they all stood at the gates to the Academy. "Well, shall we head back to our dorms then?" he asked softly as they realized then that they were truly without two of their own tonight…

Meanwhile…

"_Finally! I have a chance to strike at the heart of the blasted humans!_" XANA cackled in triumph as his three pawns knelt at the foot of his throne. "_And make no mistake; I am making sure that they are not squirming their little way out of this one. That blasted feline and his ax-wielding friend are mine at last…_"

On the Forest Replika, the Tower lying in the darkened clearing near the central part of the Sector began to glow red as XANA's scarlet eyes lit in fury…

"_Just try to stop me now, you little brats…_" he laughed mirthlessly as he summoned a welcoming committee to guard the Tower…

Twenty-five hundred feet in the air above the European continent…

A menacing smoke began to slowly wisp out of the air duct leading into the pilot's compartment of the airplane, slowly moving along the floorboards until it wreathed it's way around the pilot's waist.

"What the…? ARGH!" the pilot screamed as he was shocked by a large amount of electricity before falling limp in his seat. XANA just laughed from the safety of his castle as he commanded the spectre to infiltrate the controls of the plane. A moment later, tendrils of electricity began to envelop the plane as XANA took the machine under his control…

"What the…?" Odd yelped as he looked out his window and first saw the plane make a drastic change in course before seeing the thin ropes of electricity surrounding the plane's wings. He turned to Marth with a grim look on his face as Marth saw the exact same thing.

"XANA…" the pair muttered as they said a quick prayer for Jeremy to figure out what was going on and rescue them before something bad happened…

"Oh, no…" Jeremy groaned as he stopped, the entire gang surrounding him as he pulled out his laptop to hear the beeping alarm they had all become accustomed to. Jeremy scanned the screens quickly and let out a gasp of shock when he saw the SuperScan. "XANA's activated a Tower on the Forest Replika," he announced as he tried to scan the latest news reports, knowing that nothing, at least nothing _visible_, was going on at the Academy or in the city. "Oh, no!" he gasped as he saw the latest reports from the French Aviation Administration. "A plane's just gone offcourse and headed back towards France! The authorities have had no contact from the pilot since the course change!"

"It's Odd's flight, isn't it?" Ulrich said grimly as Jeremy scanned for the flight number, and then nodded slowly.

"Yes…it is…" he said shakily. "I think XANA may try to down the plane and kill Odd and Marth, not to mention everyone else onboard! We have to deactivate that Tower!"

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Jacob snapped back in reply as Jeremy nodded and the gang sprinted for the woods and the Sewer entrance…

Once in the tunnels, the gang grabbed their scooters, skateboards, and in Jacob's case, bike, and took off at a breakneck pace through the tunnels towards the Factory bridge. All of a sudden, Jacob winced as he felt his consciousness invaded with a sudden, piercing vision…

—_Future Flash—_

"_UNGH! JEREMY!" Jacob heard Odd scream as he saw a smoke trail up in the sky above Kadic City and a spiraling, smoking mess of metal plummeting out of the sky towards…the Factory…_

—_End Vision—_

"Hungh!"Jacob gasped as he snapped out of the vision and realized that the gang had made it to the ladder leading to the Factory Bridge. Jeremy just looked at him in puzzlement as Jacob drew in a deep gulp of air.

"I know what XANA's plotting to do…he's trying to crash Odd's plane into the Factory! He wants all of us dead…" he hissed as Aelita gasped and Hunter nodded grimly.

"Then we've got no time to lose, do we?" William said matter-of-factly as the gang nodded sternly and quickly climbed the ladder towards the Factory entrance. They took turns in threes swinging down the ropes to the Lift entrance, Jacob being the last as he landed and sprinted inside the elevator just before Jeremy closed the door. He punched in the code for the Lab, and got off there, running to the computer and slipping on his headset as he called back, "Head to the Scanner Room! We've got to hurry if we're going to save Odd and Marth!" "_Not to mention all of us…_" he added softly in his head as he prepped the necessary protocols to send the gang on their way…

Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi, Transfer William!

Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi, Scanner William!

Virtualization!

Transfer Aelita, Transfer Jacob, Transfer Hunter!

Scanner Aelita, Scanner Jacob, Scanner Hunter!

Virtualization!

"Please hurry, guys…" Odd thought grimly as he realized the plane was heading back towards France, and cast a reassuring glance at Marth while inside being scared stiff because he knew what the consequences were if the gang's mission failed…

LW94: And so the situation gets grim…I'm making you guys wait for it! Haha!

Next time:

**Episode 130: Flight Risk (3)**

It's a race against time to save Odd and Marth before their plane goes down and takes the rest of the gang with it…next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	8. Episode 130:  Flight Risk

**DISCLAIMER: I own my OCs but I still don't own Code Lyoko!**

**A/N: And so the three-part saga concludes…and plus I'm back from vacation! Yay me!**

**Episode 130: Flight Risk (3)**

A moment later, the six Warriors virtualized in the Lift Room of Sector Five, waiting briefly as the Lift came down to meet them…

"Well, let's hop this taxi," Jacob said with a wry chuckle as they hitched a ride up to the Skid Hangar. The six friends quickly disembarked and sprinted into the Hangar, automatically running to their Teleport Spots as Jeremy entered the necessary command codes.

"_Ready? Cause we don't have a lot of time…_" Jeremy pointed out as Hunter muttered, "We know, Einstein…" "_Energize!_" he finished as the gang vanished in the expected pillars of light and appeared with a crackle in their seats a moment later, with Aelita at the controls.

"Releasing docking mechanisms. Vertical propulsion activated! Cast off! Full steam ahead!" Aelita said as she powered the Skid vertically up out of the Skid Dock and through the North Pole of Sector Five. She rotated the ship so that it was facing down towards the Digital Sea of the Ice Sector and waited a fraction of a second before diving at full speed into the Digital Sea…

After a few long moments the Skid powered out of the Access Gate to Lyoko and Aelita cried, "Retro Brake!" as she threw a lever above her, slowing the Skid to a safe speed after a moment's time. "Lights activated; sonar activated," she added as she flicked switches until all necessary systems were functioning. She took the wheel and said, "Off we go," as she engaged the thrusters and began the gang on the path towards the Forest Replika. Things were calm for a few moments, but all of a sudden, Jacob looked outside his window and saw the Digital Sea go scarlet as alarms went off on Jeremy's screens.

"_Aelita, you've got company, and a lot of it,_" Jeremy crackled over the com-link as a school of Sharks, a pair of Eels, and a black and gold ship similar in fashion to the Navskids, but with more jagged edges and a less sleek aerodynamic design came up behind the Skid. Hunter saw the ship from the side window of his Navskid and cursed, coming over Jacob's headset quickly.

"_Hey, genius, you ready for this fight?_" he asked as Jacob looked out and saw the Rorkal now coming up towards the rear corner of the Skid. He growled as he saw the mercenary's jagged grin and gold eyes pierce through the scarlet waters and remembered the last battle he had shared with the electric swordsman, and the damage that the boy had done to Antea, and sighed before he replied tersely to Hunter's question.

"Let him take his best shot. I'm ready for some payback…" he hissed as Aelita pulled a set of levers on her control console.

"NavSkids away," she said as the six pods detached from the Skid and scattered, Yumi and Ulrich luring the school of a half-dozen Sharks away from the Skid, William chasing after the pair of Eels, and Jacob and Hunter preparing to meet the mercenary in battle…

"You want a fight, XANA? Well, you got one!" Ulrich growled as he blasted a torpedo at one of the Sharks, destroying it when it tried to dodge the missile. "One," he muttered as he and Yumi screamed upwards to dodge a set of missile shots that the Sharks had blasted at them. They split and circled back, able to surround two of the Sharks as they both hit their firing mechanisms and fired simultaneous laser blasts at the two Sharks, who swam towards the duo and prepared to fire, but were too stupid to realize that there were lasers headed for them and were destroyed on impact with a red cloud of sparks.

"Two, three…" Yumi added as they circled the three remaining Sharks, who shrieked before splitting off, leaving the two Warriors to chase them down as they rounded around a column and shot forwards, facing two of the three Sharks.

"Fire!" Ulrich hissed as he shot a torpedo at his Shark, who nimbly avoided his shot before returning fire that Ulrich barely had time or room to dodge without running into a nearby Data Hub. "Oh, so you wanna do this the hard way? The hard way it is, then!" he growled as he flicked the rapid-fire switch and let off a flurry of lasers that the Shark twisted and turned to avoid, but Ulrich already had his finger on the button and fired a torpedo before the Shark could react, obliterating it in a cloud of yellow smoke. "Four," he said through gritted teeth.

"Telekinesis…" Yumi muttered as she stared at her Shark, focusing on the gilled menace as it became enveloped in a pinkish aura and flailed around, unable to move as Yumi fired a single Torpedo at it, destroying it effortlessly as Ulrich growled over her headset.

"_Five… Come on, really…Yumi, behind you!_" Ulrich hissed as he fired a torpedo over the roof fin of Yumi's NavSkid at the final Shark, destroying it as Yumi muttered a quick "Thank you" to Ulrich, who chuckled under his breath.

"Six. And you're welcome, Yumes," Ulrich smiled as Yumi blushed, well if she could have, inside her NavSkid, and smiled.

"I'm not playing around, today!" William hissed at the two Eels pursuing him as he whipped around and tapped in a command code on his firing screen. "Silver Bullet!" he cried as he shot out two gleaming silver conical torpedoes at the two Eels, which cut through the Eyes on their heads like arrows through tissue paper as they squealed before exploding in simultaneous blasts of yellow light.

"_So…we meet…again…_" the mercenary said in a staticky, grated tone as he faced the two remaining Warriors. Jacob just growled as Hunter came over the Com-link.

"Tell your Master that he's got to do better than this if he wants to take us down!" Hunter shot back with a glare as he punched in a firing sequence. "Fire!" he growled as he shot a torpedo at the Rorkal. The mercenary just laughed as he barrel-rolled to avoid the shot and responded with a gold torpedo fired at Hunter's NavSkid which he couldn't swerve quickly enough to avoid. The blast exploded with a flash of yellow light against the side of Hunter's NavSkid, and the raven cried out as he felt an electric shock coarse through his body and NavSkid. He shook his head to get his bearings as he saw Jacob dart away after the mercenary, but when he punched the throttle to try and follow, he realized the jolt had knocked out power to his NavSkid.

"Aelita! I'm gonna need you to pick me up!" he called over the headset. "I got hit by some kind of torpedo from that mercenary kid and my NavSkid's got no power!"

"_I'm on my way!_" she called back as she locked on to Hunter's weak sonar signal and followed it until she reached his position. "_You called for a taxi?_" she smiled playfully as she flipped a switch on her console. "_Recovery,_" she added as she reattached Hunter's NavSkid to the main ship…

Jacob growled in frustration as he gave chase to the mercenary and his black-and-gold Rorkal. Every time he began to gain on the kid, he activated a throttle boost and managed to inch back away from the brunette. After about a minute of the chase which had gotten Jacob no closer to the boy, he finally growled and let the faintest of glows enter into his gaze as he tapped into his powers…

"Enough games!" he hissed as he pressed a button and released a bolt of lightning from the torpedo launcher of his NavSkid that outpaced the mercenary and collided full-force with his Rorkal, short-circuiting it and sending him flying as Jacob heard him yelp over the com-link and try to flee. But the brunette was quicker as he fired a white pulse of energy from the nose-cone of his NavSkid, obliterating the Rorkal without effort as he saw a gold flash fly from the wreckage and off through the Network, signifying that the boy was fleeing back to XANA…

"Good riddance…" he growled as he turned around and prepared to head back towards the Skid, but froze when he heard a crackle from behind him…

Meanwhile…

"Recovery," Aelita said as she reattached the NavSkids to the main ship while looking around and realizing that Jacob had not yet returned. "Jacob, are you all right?" she asked over the com-link as she heard his frantic reply a moment later…

"_Turn tail and get out of here!_" he yelped as she saw the speck of his NavSkid come into view…chased closely by…an energy explosion!

"Full speed ahead!" Aelita cried as she rotated the Skid around and punched the thrusters online, screaming away from the pursuing energy wave with Jacob close on her tail. Only when they had outrun the pulse and it had fizzled out did she throw the brakes and screech to a halt, allowing for Jacob to catch up and reattach his NavSkid to the Skid itself. Aelita cursed under her breath as she came over the headset. "What in the name of Lyoko did you _do_, Jacob?" she asked crossly as he panted, out of breath from the shock of what had just happened.

"I…kind of used my powers to take out the mercenary…and I think the energy from my blast reacted with the current from the Digital Sea and set off a _tiny_ explosion…" he said sheepishly as both Aelita and Jeremy groaned and smacked their foreheads simultaneously.

"If that's tiny I don't want to be around when you really blow something up…" she muttered as she approached a Data Hub. "Hyperfluid aspiration in three seconds…"

The Skid exploded out of the Data Hub a moment later and came to a stop in front of the Access Gate to the Forest Replika. Aelita rotated the Skid into vertical position and ran her fingers over the keypad as she entered in the locking code. "Digital Key engaged…" she said as a beam of white light shot out of the Data Port on the Skid and impacted the middle of the Eye on the Access Gate's lock. A moment later, the Eye blinked and the lock unsealed, allowing the tunnel to open as Aelita maneuvered the Skid inside…

The Skid blasted up out of the pale green water a moment later as Aelita navigated the Skid up towards the mainland of the Sector.

"_Tower at eleven o' clock_," Jeremy said as Aelita made the correction and headed for the Tower. Once she was in range, she tapped a few keys on her control pad as she entered the command sequence. "Docking," she said as the pink swirls of light began to envelop the top of the Tower. "Skid secured," she added as the Tower's aura changed from white to green. She then sat back in her seat as she entered the last command code. "Disembarking," she finished as the six Warriors vanished from their seats and appeared in a crackle of sparks a moment later on the mainland of the Sector. Aelita looked around at the tranquility of their surroundings before anyone spoke.

"Am I the only one that thinks it's _too_ quiet around here?" Ulrich growled as William nodded.

"_Normally, I would agree, but according to my monitors XANA has concentrated his forces at the Tower itself. Any volunteers to stay and protect the Skid?_" Jeremy asked as William and Hunter agreed.

"We'll stay here, Einstein," Hunter replied. "The others need to be the ones to deactivate the Tower," he said as Aelita gave him a faint smile.

"Taxis, anyone?" Jacob laughed as Jeremy called up the Overwheel, Overbike and Overwings a moment later. Jacob looked back at Hunter as he hopped on and revved the engine. "We're off!" he said as the four of them hit the throttles and bolted off in the direction of the Tower. "_Thank you…_" he added telepathically as Hunter smiled, watching them go off into the distance as he turned to William.

"Any bets on how long it takes the welcoming party to get here?" he asked with a wry smirk as William laughed…

Meanwhile…

"Come on, Odd…" Marie hissed under her breath as she paced back and forth in the hospital lobby, Louise watching her with concerned eyes. "You were supposed to call when your flight landed an hour ago; where are you?" she asked, worry gnawing at her as she continued to pace…

As the other four raced into view of the Tower, Jacob's eyes widened when he saw Taelia lying in wait, with three Supertanks flanking her as she tapped her foot impatiently. The quartet skidded to a stop as they flung their vehicles away, and Yumi scoffed as Taelia laughed coldly at the lot of them.

"Took you long enough," she scolded as she drew her whip.

"What, no pleasantries?" Jacob asked sweetly as the pink-haired demon laughed.

"Not a chance," she shot back with an amused growl. "Monsters, attack!" she commanded as the three Supertanks rolled forward to meet the Warriors in battle.

"Let's do this," Jacob growled as he shot a glance at Ulrich. "You want to take her?" he asked as he dove out of the way of one of the red spheres before it could crush him.

"It would be my pleasure," he shot back with a smirk as he dove around the commotion to meet Taelia for battle.

"Oh, look…I get the little swordsman this time…" Taelia said, with a croon as sweet as sugar as Ulrich tensed up and growled under his breath.

"We'll see what you call little when I'm done with you…" he shot back as he drew his sabres…

On the plane, Odd's eyes widened as he started to see the plane drop altitude, and he quickly looked out the window as he began to see some familiar landscape pass underneath them…

"Oh, this is not good…" he whispered as he knew exactly where XANA's course was taking them…

"Hunh!" Jacob grunted as he dove out of the way of the Supertank chasing him, hoping to lure it over the edge of the Sector, but the sphere was too cunning for him and stopped before going over the side. It slowly rotated back around as Jacob stared it down, thinking on his feet as he let out a small "Aha!" before charging a blue Energy Field in his hand and facing down the spiked menace. "Petrification," he hissed as he blasted a blue beam of energy at the Supertank, which was stopped in its path as it froze solid in a casing of ice. Jacob just grinned and walked over to it, giving it a push to roll it over the side and into the Digital Sea. "They never learn…"

"Hiyahh!" Yumi cried as she did an acrobatic backflip to avoid her Supertank, launching off a tree in mid-air to fly over the top of the sphere and landing behind it as it rotated to face her. "Come and get me," she taunted as it began a quick roll towards her. She grinned as she placed a finger to her temple, enveloping herself and the Supertank in a thin pink aura as she lifted it off the ground. She turned and saw Aelita take off to avoid being crushed by her own Supertank, and readjusted her plan slightly. "Heads up, Princess!" she yelled as she flung her Supertank at the one chasing Aelita, causing them to collide and roll right over the cliff because of the transferred momentum. Yumi laughed as she saw the beams of light shoot up from the Digital Sea a moment later and chuckled when Aelita landed gracefully next to her. "Well, that was fun…" she grinned as the pinkette laughed…

"Okay, this is getting boring…" William scoffed as not a moment later, he was cut off by a laser impacting his shoulder and knocking him to the ground. He staggered up as Hunter leapt to his feet, the two boys scowling as three Tarantulas arced around them, their lasers leveled.

"Well, there's the welcoming committee; you were saying?" Hunter laughed sarcastically as William hefted his Zweihander…

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich hissed as he launched off his back foot, zooming around Taelia in a circle and trying to catch her off guard as she watched the boy surround her for a moment before cackling in amusement.

"Too easy…" she grinned evilly as she lashed out her whip at the glowing circle around her, catching Ulrich in the stomach when he circled around and knocking him to the ground, his chest sparking as he leapt to his feet, panting as he caught his breath.

"You're gonna…pay for that one," he hissed as he launched forward, trying to land a blow to her shoulder as she lashed her whip out and snagged one of his sabres, flinging it into the ground behind him as she reached out and grabbed hold of the brunette's wrist, twisting his arm up over his head and causing him to shriek as he involuntarily dropped his second sabre.

"You were saying?" she asked in that honey-sweet snarl as she sliced through his side with her whip, devirtualizing him as he cried out in frustration. "One down…ungh!" she shrieked as she was blasted to the side, vanishing in a cloud of smoke as Jacob blew a tendril of smoke from his fingertips, a well-timed bolt of lightning being Taelia's demise…

"_It's time to kick things into high gear…_" XANA hissed as he amplified the electricity coursing through the plane, frying the engines as the left hand engine exploded in a flash of fire and smoke.

"AH!" Odd screamed as the plane shook violently, now beginning to lose altitude rapidly as Marth looked out the window and saw the streaming cloud of smoke and the familiar landscape of Kadic City beginning to come into faint view…

"Aelita! The plane's going down!" Jeremy screamed as Alert messages flooded his screens and Ulrich ran out of the elevator and over to the display to stand behind him. "Go! NOW!" he shrieked in paralyzing fear…

Aelita entered the Tower, reaching the center of the platform as she began to levitate towards the second level…

"_It's all over…_" Marth thought sadly as he bowed his head and hugged Odd, both boys beginning to cry…

She landed softly on the upper platform, the Eye glowing beneath her feet as she walked up to the Interface…

"NO!" Ulrich screamed, crying at being powerless to stop what was happening…

"UNGH! JEREMY!" Odd screamed as the plane left a smoke trail in the sky above Kadic City and a spiraling, smoking mess of metal plummeted out of the sky towards the Factory…

AELITA

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated…" Aelita said frantically as Jeremy flew through command sequences, his fingers racing across the keyboard as he pressed the Enter key…

"Return to the Past NOW!" he screamed as the white bubble exploded out from the Supercomputer, enveloping everything in its path and submerging the plane in its glow just before it could come slamming into the Factory…

At the hospital…

"Oh, you made it, little brother!" Marie cried in relief as she raced over and collided with Odd, smothering him in a hug as he dropped his bags beside him.

"I'm here, Marie…" he barely squeaked out. "Can't…breathe…" he gasped as she laughed and released him, seeing the red-haired boy next to him for the first time.

"You must be Marth," she said warmly as she gave him a gentle hug. "We've heard nothing but good things about you and Ulrich from Odd; it's a shame you both couldn't have come, and I hate the circumstances had to be like this…"

"No, it's a pleasure," Marth said as he returned the hug and looked around, seeing all of Odd's sisters come to greet him for the first time. Odd got through with the hugs and smiled at Marth.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of my crazy family," he laughed, emphasizing the word crazy as his sisters laughed.

"Obviously it runs in the family," Marth shot back as Odd scowled playfully.

"Hey now, I'm normal around here!" he laughed as he turned to his sisters. "Marth, meet the rest of the Della Robbias," he said warmly as he gestured to each of his sisters in turn while introducing them. "Marie here you've already met…"

"Well, kind of," Marth laughed as he shook Marie's hand while Odd continued undisturbed.

"She's the oldest; she's nineteen. She has a job as a librarian, and she's going to school for Literature education. She's kind of standoffish…"

"Hey…" Marie said playfully as she punched Odd gently in the shoulder.

"But…she does buy me lots of stuff," Odd finished quickly with a smile directed at his oldest sister. "Librarians make a good deal of money. It's crazy. Then, Louise is the second oldest. She was born the same year as Marie, but she was born in December. Marie was born in February. Louise likes to sing, which is weird because she's generally pretty quiet."

"Odd!" Louise laughed as she said a hello and hugged Marth warmly.

"She has an amazing voice," Odd continued, still undisturbed by the interruptions by his sisters. "Her dream is to be a music teacher someday," he finished, turning to his third sister. Elisabeth is the middle girl, and definitely the one I get along best with. She's seventeen, and she works at a fast food place. Which means I get free french fries all the time!"

"Odd and his stomach," Elisabeth laughed as Marth nodded.

"Yeah, we see it all the time…" he laughed.

"Hey, you're not listening, Marth!" Odd grumbled as Marth laughed.

"I am, Odd; we're just adding as you go along here!" he laughed in reply.

"Anyways, Elisabeth's a lot like Einstein; she loves anything to do with computers and technology, she's just not as book smart as Jeremy is. She knows how plenty of electronic things work, though." It was obvious to Marth that Odd was enjoying the talk about his family. He seemed a lot more lighthearted than he had been in hours as he continued on talking about his youngest sisters, who were still a good two years older than him. "Adèle and Pauline are twins, and I still sometimes have trouble telling the two apart. They're both sixteen, and go to the same high school. They're the worst when it comes to teasing me…"

"Are not!" both twins shot back at exactly the same time. Odd just glowered at them as he continued.

"Adèle is the one who talks to people first, and Pauline tends to follow after. It's like a ritual," he laughed. "They're really close, which I think is cute, though it tends to mean that it's two against one in the twins' favor," Odd said with a sigh. He was remembering all the times the twins had teamed up on him and ruined his day. "One time, they actually locked Kiwi in a closet with all of my clothes and only a bowl of water. No food. I ended up having to get all new clothes. Dad grounded them for a week, but he let them off the hook a few days later."

"Tends to happen in houses full of girls," Marth laughed as Odd nodded.

"You have no idea, buddy," Odd agreed as just then, a doctor came up to Marie and Odd with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Ah, you must be Odd," he said as he shook the prankster's hand. "I'm Doctor Benoit, the ICU specialist here…"

"Pleasure, Doctor," Odd said as he returned the handshake, Marie looking nervous as she turned to the Doctor.

"How is she, Doctor Benoit…?" she asked nervously as a long pause ensued…

"Well…I thought you all would want to know…your mom has woken up…" at this a sigh from all the Della Robbias, and Marth, as Odd smiled at the good news he had been hoping for. "If you would like, you can go see her now…just go two at a time and be prepared…we don't know what kind of state her mind is in at the moment…" the doctor finished as Odd thanked him profusely before grabbing Marth and Marie and heading for his mom's room, in that moment knowing, at least, that things were not anywhere close to as bad as they could have been…

LW94: And so the gang is down two…poor Odd. I feel for him. Anyways…READ AND REVIEW! I'm excited about what's to come…

Next time…

**Episode 131: Pulling Together**

As the gang bands together in the wake of Odd and Marth's sudden departures, an ill-timed XANA attack will split them apart. Can our heroes manage to stop the attack in time? And will they be able to do it alone? Find out next time…on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	9. Episode 131:  Pulling Together

**DISCLAIMER: I own my OCs but I still don't own Code Lyoko!**

**A/N: Had a stockpile of chapters because I wrote in the car while I was gone! And by the way, because I couldn't remember last chapter, I got my basis for Odd's sisters from Tihany of ! Thank you so much for giving me a spark!**

**Episode 131: Pulling Together**

"Really, Odd? That's great!" Ulrich exclaimed with a sigh of relief the next morning as the gang was gathered in his room, anxious to see how their friend was holding up and what kind of state his mom was in. "I…oh, wow…uh-huh…wow," Ulrich said softly, his tone instantly becoming somber as he cast his eyes downward towards the floor. "Well…I know it's not what you were expecting…but you know, it could have been a whole lot worse."

"_Yeah, I know, buddy…_" the gang heard Odd say worriedly.

"Hey, look at what you do have. She's alive; you and Marth are alive, and there safely now, things are gonna be okay," Ulrich reassured him. "Not to mention your dad made it there too. You said that yourself. So things are gonna get better. Call us with anymore news, okay? Talk to you soon," he finished softly as he hung up his cell phone, turning to the rest of the group with a grim expression on his face. "Odd's mom came out of surgery well yesterday, and woke up just after he got there last night. Her memory's fuzzy at the moment, but she at least remembers all of them, so that's a plus. The bad news though, is that right now the right side of her body is paralyzed. I guess she had a bunch of small blood clots on her right side and a major one in her heart that nearly killed her. But the doctors broke up the major ones and she's at least stable, but the lack of blood flow attacked the muscles and that's why the paralysis occurred; I didn't understand a lot of what he said and I don't think Odd understood a lot of the medical mumbo-jumbo himself, but…from what I gathered it's gonna be a while before she comes out of the hospital and goes home, and a while yet before Odd and Marth come home. They want to make sure she's well-cared for before they come back here…" Ulrich sighed as the gang looked at him with solemn gazes, heartbroken for the turmoil their friend was in right now. (**A/N: I apologize if I screwed up the medical explanation, but this is Code Lyoko; I didn't think the story was worth getting every piece of the medical information right.**)

"He'll be okay," Aelita said softly. "I know Odd; he's strong. He'll make it through and be back here before we know it."

"It's just gonna be weird not having Kadic's resident prankster around for a while," William admitted as Jeremy laughed.

"Well, I know there _will_ be a few people thankful for a break from his chaos, but I know none of them wanted it to be under these circumstances," he added as Jacob nodded.

"Agreed. Hey, let's not dwell on the bad stuff; I know Odd wouldn't want us to do that at all!" he reminded them as he sprung up, his usual cheer back full-force. "And besides, I think dinner should be ready about now! I'm anxious to see what Rosa's cooked up for us," he grinned as he headed out of the dorm room and down the steps, leaving a laughing group of Lyoko Warriors behind.

"Well, I guess we know where Odd left his appetite," Yumi said with a smirk as the rest of the gang roared at Jacob's behavior…

Meanwhile…

"_They have eluded me AGAIN!_" XANA screeched in fury as his three pawns flinched away at the sheer magnitude of his anger. "_My plan was supposed to end with all of them DEAD and yet they slithered their way out of my grasp! No matter…_" the program hissed softly as he walked out of the fog surrounding his throne, his eyes glowing fiercely as he paced back and forth in front of his minions. "_It just means we'll have to go about things in a different manner…_" he growled as he stopped, facing his three pawns as he continued. "_Rise…_" he commanded as they slowly got to their feet and bowed their heads before looking at him again. "_Now to the question, which one of you should I send to do battle with the annoying brats…?_" The boy in white opened his mouth to respond, but XANA silenced him with a waved hand before he could speak. "_Not yet. I have plans for you; I promise. I just need you to be patient until the right time…_" He cast his eyes to the other two and slowly let a wicked grin cross his face. "_Ari…_" he said, motioning to the mercenary to come forward as he let the beginnings of a plan form in his head. "_I think it's time we show the Lyoko brats a little taste of what you can really do…_"

In the cafeteria for dinner…

"Wow, I have to admit, Rosa's outdone herself this time," William grinned as the gang chowed down on second helpings of Rosa's Kadic-renowned egg pies. (**A/N: My dad just made these the other night; they're a hit in my house!**) "Odd's missing out this time!"

"We'll just have to fill him in later!" Hunter laughed as his eyes suddenly brightened and he looked up at the gang with a sudden sparkle in his eye. "Hey, by the way, guys…Jeremy and I have been working overtime on the programming for a way to take control of XANA's Replikas, and we think we've got it ready to go!" he grinned as Jacob's mouth fell slightly open in surprise.

"What? I thought you said it was gonna be a few weeks yet?" he asked as Jeremy looked at him and gave one of his rare enigmatic grins.

"We did; but…maybe we flubbed that a little bit to surprise you guys," he chuckled as Aelita punched him playfully in the shoulder.

"You brat," she laughed as Jeremy feigned pain and the gang chuckled at his antics. "_You two just need to make it official already!_" Jacob thought, looking at the pinkette as he did so, and Aelita yelped when she heard his words echo in her head as she dropped her fork in surprise.

"You okay, Aelita?" Yumi asked as she glared at Jacob before nodding.

"Yeah, just got a shock, that's all. Static electricity, you know?" she said as Hunter chuckled and Aelita shot Jacob a poisonous glare that said, "_I will get you back for that!_"

"_Try me…_" he laughed silently as Aelita just scoffed before digging back into her food.

"_Now, let's see what those little whelps have got for me this time…_" Ari thought in a grated tone as he sat cross-legged in front of a Tower in the Ice Sector and began to wait, knowing it was only a matter of time as the Tower behind him began to glow scarlet…

"So, Einstein, spill. How's this program of yours work?" Jacob asked through a mouthful of pie as Jeremy laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Well, it's really neat, actually. It's called Code: CHIMERA. Hunter came up with the name," he added as the black-and-blue haired boy nodded and let a smile ghost across his lips. (**A/N: The Chimera name is also not owned by me; I borrowed it from the Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity console game.**)

"I wanted something cool-sounding for once, and not all geeky," he laughed.

"Anyways, how it works," Jeremy continued. "The code has to be run from the Replika's Way Tower, and once it's activated, it taps into the power supply of the Replika and diverts it to our Supercomputer, allowing me to hack into the mainframe of the Replika's Supercomputer and take control of it away from XANA. The only drawback is…"

"It takes time to fully work," Hunter finished. "It takes a five-minute countdown from the time we activate the code for the Replika to completely be under our control. So, we have to defend the Tower while Aelita is inside running the program, because if XANA manages to break our control during that five-minute period…"

"Game over," Ulrich finished as Hunter nodded in agreement.

"More or less," Jeremy agreed. "I'm not entirely sure what would happen if we happen to lose control of the Way Tower while we're trying to assimilate the Replika, but I'm guessing that more or less we'd basically be thrown off the Replika. Violently," he added as William grimaced.

"Sounds painful," he added, earning a scoff from Hunter…

In the darkened Principal's office…

Delmas had already left his office for the evening as a spectre floated out of the electrical outlet in the corner of his office, making its way over to his computer and quickly infiltrating it as the monitor flicked on and the Eye of XANA appeared on the screen; XANA quickly searching the programs until he came across the one he was after…

"Well," Jeremy continued as he got up to throw his now-empty plate away, the others following suit. "All of our test simulations have proved successful, so if you guys want, we can go to test it tonight; I guess…now," he finished as Ulrich's head shot up and he grinned.

"A chance to crack some heads? Let's roll," he said enthusiastically as Jacob walked out the double doors of the cafeteria, but just as the others prepared to follow, a loud click was heard, followed by a subsequent buzzing as Jacob watched a few stray sparks skate across the surface of the metal doors. Jeremy's eyes widened in shock as Yumi reached out to grab hold of the door, and Jacob heard him yell, "Don't touch it!" as she pulled her hand back from the door quickly. Jeremy pulled out his laptop and scanned the screen quickly before looking at Jacob with a frown…

"XANA's hacked into the school lockdown protocols!" he hissed through the door, Jacob just being able to hear what was being said through without anyone else overhearing. "And to top it all off, he's managed to use the wiring to electrify the doors so we can't pick the locks! I hate to say this, Jacob, but you're on your own for this one!" he said worriedly as Jacob looked at him confidently and nodded.

"And here I thought we needed to pull together while Odd was gone and here I am stuck stopping a XANA attack on my own…" he laughed, amused at the irony of the situation. "You guys see if you can figure out a way out of there; I'll head to the Factory," Jacob said as he turned and headed for the woods…

Jacob sprinted to the sewer entrance and growled as he lifted the manhole cover, his arms shaking as he slid it out of the way. He slowly balanced the cover on his hands as he slid his feet over the side and onto the ladder, letting the cover lower back into place as he took very slow, deliberate, balanced steps down the ladder until he heard the cover clang into place, then whipped a hand around to grab the ladder just before he lost his balance and fell down the ladder. He gulped in several deep breaths, trying to get over the near-shock as he recovered his bearings and climbed down the ladder to the main Sewer tunnels. Once safely there, he grabbed his bicycle from the side of the tunnel and raced down the slick concrete through the tunnels, panting in exhaustion as he finally reached the tunnel going up to the Factory Bridge.

"That was _so_ much easier in my head…" he barked as he coughed several times once he climbed up the tunnel and collapsed on his side on the bridge for a few moments before staggering up and heading into the Factory. He made his way to the Computer Lab and set up a delayed virtualization before racing down to the Scanner Room and slipping into his scanner _just_ before the doors shut and the delayed virtualization began…

"_Transfer…well, me…_" Jake thought with a chuckle as the beam of light scanned his body. "_Scanner…me…_" he continued, purely out of force of habit as the familiar wind began to blow softly below his feet. "_Here we go again…_"

VIRTUALIZATION!

Jacob felt the familiar zipping as his virtual matrix appeared over the Ice Sector, and he exhaled sharply as he hit the ground, getting up slowly as he scanned his surroundings. He thought back to the coordinates of the Tower the SuperScan had given him, and slowly turned until he was pointed at the bearing he needed to face, looking across at a path lined with spires of ice as he summoned his Overwheel. He hopped on once it had materialized and hit the throttle, bolting off in the direction of the activated Tower…

Meanwhile…

"Crap!" Jeremy fumed as a red exclamation point appeared on his laptop's screen. He had been trying to hack the lockdown protocols for the last fifteen minutes or so, hoping for any way to get them out of there and to the Factory, but so far, he had had no luck at breaking in to disable the security, meaning our heroes were still locked in the electrified Cafeteria. "XANA's managed to seal off the school servers so I can't get in to stop the lockdown programs!"

"Is there a back way in, Jeremy?" Aelita asked softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "You always told me that the first way to break into anything is to look for a way that's not obvious."

"I tried to reroute the servers so I could get past the school firewall, but XANA's managing to stay one step ahead of me. For now, unless there's something I haven't thought of, we're stuck here…" he said grimly as he put his head in his hands, frustrated that there was nothing he could do to help this time…

"Hmm…" Jacob muttered as he raced along several winding paths, heading towards the Tower that he could now see in the distance. Along the way, he had expected to be ambushed at least once by XANA's monsters, but so far, he had seen nothing fishy, and no monsters of any kind had shown up to attack him. "This is getting a little strange…" he mused to himself as he frowned suddenly at a speck in front of the Tower that had just come into view when he rounded a corner. He was now looking straight on at the activated Tower, and he hit the throttle to max speed as he blasted towards it, his eyes widening when he was close enough to make out what the speck was he had seen…

"Oh, crap…" he growled as he saw the glinting honey-colored eyes of the mercenary glaring at him, a smirk wide on the boy's face as he slowly reached for his sword.

"_Now, things are going to get interesting…_" he thought to himself as he let a stray spark crackle at his fingertips…

Back at Kadic…

"I guess we're just stuck, now…" Jeremy sighed, ready to admit defeat and frustrated beyond belief as he saw a familiar black-haired menace slowly walking over to where the gang was seated…

"Hello, losers…" Sissi growled, with a sickly sweet undertone as Ulrich groaned, turning his back as she approached. "Figures I'd be stuck in here with your lot, considering my luck lately…" she complained as William snapped his head around to glare at her.

"If you don't have anything useful to say, _Elizabeth_," he snapped, purposefully landing on her full name as she glowered menacingly at him, "then buzz off! We certainly don't want anything to do with you right now! We've got bigger problems to try and solve," he finished as she looked specifically at Jeremy before speaking again.

"Well, if the brainiac's tring to get us out of here, he certainly won't do it by himself…" she said with a smirk as Jeremy's head snapped up from staring at his computer.  
>"Oh, really, Sissi?" he hissed. "And I suppose <em>you<em> could do better at getting us out of here?" he snapped as she flipped her hair behind her ear and grinned.

"Yes, for once, I actually could," she smirked as Aelita muttered furiously under her breath at the menace they still had to put up with. "There are actually perks to being the Principal's daughter beyond fashion and popularity," she scoffed as she walked over to Jeremy's side. "Give me your laptop…" she said pointedly.

"Why? What are you trying to pull, Sissi?" Einstein glowered as he shot back his retort.

"Oh, relax…I'm not going to ruin your precious technology…" she said slowly. "I'm just going to put in the passcode to the school servers so you can break in and shut down the lockdown programs," she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world as Jeremy reluctantly handed over his laptop and Sissi pulled up the access screens to the school servers. She typed in a few lines of characters, muttering and clicking as she went along, and then a moment later, a green exclamation point appeared on Jeremy's screen as his mouth fell open and he stared at Sissi, who just smirked evilly in reply. "There. Now get us all out of here, genius…" she growled as Jeremy regained his composure before nodding and typing in several command codes to shut down the lockdown protocols. A few moments later, the buzzing of the electricity running through the doors was silenced, followed by a click signifying that the deadbolts were retracted. At this, a cheer was heard as the other students who were stuck in the Cafeteria massed towards the exit, and Jeremy and the others stayed for just a moment longer, staring blankly at Sissi in disbelief of what had just happened.

"I'll ask the one question we're all thinking," Ulrich said with a slight frown as he broke the awkward silence. "Why would you do that? Help us?" he asked as Sissi just scoffed in response.

"I was desperate. Anything to not be trapped in this place," she said simply, walking off before any of the gang had a chance to reply.

"Now there's the Sissi we know and loathe," Aelita said once she was out of earshot, earning a smile and chuckle from Hunter and Ulrich…

"Hunh!" Jacob grunted as he launched off of his Overwheel and landed about thirty feet from the gold-and-black clad pawn of XANA. He looked up into his enemy's eyes, meeting the mercenary's menacing glare for a moment before he spoke.

"I figured it would be longer before we met again after I almost vaporized you in the Digital Sea," Jacob laughed as his adversary spoke in reply.

"Ari…" he growled in a distorted tone as Jacob furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"What…?" Jacob asked in reply.

"Your friend asked for pleasantries before her fight with Taelia last time. So I'm giving the favor to you…" he explained with a rasp as understanding dawned in Jacob's eyes. "Now…" he growled as fury erupted in his tone. He grabbed his sword and launched off of his left foot towards Jacob, who barrel-rolled to the ground to dodge Ari's attempted slice to his chest as he drew his Energy Sword.

"You should know to at least honor your enemy with a fair fight," Jacob shot back cynically as he sprung up and stared down Ari with fire in his eyes. He leveled his sword in his right hand and sprung to his right, launching a massive blow towards Ari's head, and the boy barely managed to raise his blade to block the blow in time, creating a shower of gold and purple sparks which erupted from the point where the two blades met. The force of the rebound from when Jacob's blade hit Ari's forced him back several feet, and he growled as the boy began to charge power in his right hand, now holding the blade loosely in his left. "So that's how you want to play this?" Jacob scoffed. "Fine, two can play at this game," he shot back as his blade began to glow yellow and he morphed it back into an Energy Field, absorbing it into his hand as he trailed his fingers in a long circle around his body, leaving a trail of sparks in his wake as the two boys shot their fingertips toward each other at the same time, blasting out identical bolts of lightning which met between the two of them and exploded in a cloud of sparks and smoke, forcing both boys backwards in a gust of wind. When the smoke cleared, the two were both still on their feet, but Jacob was panting harshly as he struggled to catch his breath. "_The kid's gotten a lot stronger than I realized…_" he thought to himself as he watched Ari raise his hand again, and Jacob looked up for half a second in shock as dark black lightning clouds began to form over the Sector, and that was all the distraction Ari needed as he cried, "Lightning Storm!" In the next moment, a hail of thunderbolts fell from the sky and impacted around Jacob, creating cracks in the icy ground before the kid summoned one lightning bolt that fell and hit Jacob square in the chest.

"AGH!" Jacob screamed as he felt the current shoot through his body in a violent jolt. He was thrown backwards to the ground, and sparks danced in his vision and across his bodysuit as he staggered up and reformed his Energy Sword. "Hungh!" he grunted as he attempted to throw the blade at Ari's chest, but he felt a hand around his right wrist, and his head swerved around in shock as his arm stopped moving and he saw Taelia grinning, holding his arm immobile as she smirked, increasing the pressure to force him to drop his sword to the ground.

"You're not the only one who can play dirty…" Taelia hissed with a sickly-sweet grin as she threw Jacob to the ground. She raised her whip as Ari came to stand next to her, leveling his sword at Jake's throat as the two villains gazed at him with victory in their eyes until…

"Dark Fire!"

"Hiyahh!"

The two cries rang out simultaneously as a pulse of fire struck right in Taelia's chest while Yumi's fans sliced through Ari's waist, devirtualizing him in a puff of smoke as Taelia shrieked, "NO!" She was knocked backwards to the ground, her whip thrown from her hand as Yumi, Hunter, and Ulrich ran up to help Jacob up from the ice. He smiled gratefully before the four of them surrounded Taelia, their weapons pointed at her head as she began to shake in fear. Jacob just grinned as he glared at the flower princess.

"You were saying?" he asked with a grin as Taelia just cringed in fear before reducing to nothing more than a puff of pink smoke and fleeing back to XANA's lair. "Coward…" he growled as he ran into the Tower…

JACOB

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated…" Jacob muttered as the screens fell to the ground around him.

After the thwarted attack, Jacob returned to Earth and came up to the Computer Lab with the others, his face grim as he sat down next to Jeremy.

"Well, I've learned one thing from today's attack…" he said in frustration. "XANA's gained even more power in recent weeks, and he's definitely using some of it to strengthen Taelia and Ari so that they stand a much better chance against us…"

"Ari?" William asked in confusion.

"The mercenary," Jacob quickly explained in response. "He finally told me his name today. Ari," he growled as Aelita laid a hand on his shoulder. "Anyways, since XANA seems to be gaining power again, I vote that we get ready to start taking it back from him," he muttered as Jeremy nodded. Jacob turned to Hunter as he continued. "Do you two have the Chimera program ready to go?"

"Save for a few last-minute tweaks, all our tests show that it is in fact ready," Hunter said with a nod.

"Then Antea and I can look over it and if everyone's in agreement, then tomorrow, we start collecting Replikas…" Jacob finished with a steely grit to his voice as the rest of the gang agreed intently on the plan of action…

Meanwhile…

"_You two are a disgrace!_" XANA hissed as he blasted two smoke orbs at Taelia and Ari, knocking them to the ground as they cowered in fear of the program's anger. "_I give you a simple task; tag-team the boy, catch him off-guard, and eradicate him! And you can't even do that right!_" he hissed as he left the pair on the ground cringing in pain as he turned to the boy in white. "_Well then…I guess it's up to you…Tyler…_"

LW94: Ooh…XANA's angry…that's never a good sign…

Next time:

**Episode 132: Silence is Golden**

When a XANA attack creates an epidemic at Kadic, will the Warriors learn more than they expected from someone close to them? And will a trick from XANA be enough to stop our heroes from thwarting the program's evil plot? Find out next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	10. Episode 132:  Silence is Golden

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Code Lyoko, but I own my OCs.**

**A/N: I will admit, the attack in this chapter is a slight filler, but I kind of liked the idea of XANA attacking something non-technological or living for once. This chapter is the lead-in to the two major storylines that I am going to focus on for the rest of the season. Be prepared for some shocking revelations, and information, to come in the upcoming chapters… And last but not least, please, please, please…READ AND REVIEW! Give me an idea, and I will include it in this story if I can make it work (I can 99% of the time)!**

**Episode 132: Silence is Golden**

At the Hermitage…

"Aelita, someone's at the door!" Antea called as Aelita looked up from her laptop but continued to type rapidly on the keyboard.

"Can you answer it, Mom? I'm a little busy at the moment!" she yelled back as Antea sighed with a chuckle. That was her Aelita, always too wrapped up in one job or another to have any time in her life. "Although I suppose part of that is my fault," she laughed as she recalled how busy she had always been and how wrapped up she and Franz always were in their work so long ago. She walked out to the front hall to answer the door and when she opened the door she smiled upon seeing Jacob standing on the doorstep. The boy reminded her quite a lot of how Hunter's unwavering friendship was in his and Aelita's youth, and she was very glad that Aelita had found Jacob on Lyoko because she could see that he was a true friend towards her and at the same time in the short time that she had known him, that Aelita was helping him to open up and see the world as well.

"Hi, Jacob; I figured you would be coming by," Antea smiled as the brunette grinned, with a chuckle evident in his eyes, though he didn't laugh aloud.

"Hi Antea," he replied as she stepped to the side to allow him to step inside, shutting the door behind him as he took off his coat, shifting his laptop bag off of his shoulder as he did so. "Has Aelita _stopped_ working since I sent her the Chimera programs?" he laughed upon not seeing the pinkette anywhere around as he followed Antea into the kitchen.

"No, she's been working all morning," she replied with a chuckle. "Although I suppose that comes naturally to her," she added, Jacob chuckling as he heard this.

"Runs in the family, huh?" he asked rhetorically as Antea smiled before opening the oven and pulling out a platter of chocolate-chip cookies.

"Yes," she laughed with a sparkle in her eye as she sat the cookies down on the table, pulling out three plates from the cabinet behind her. "I made these about an hour ago because I figured you would be coming by," she added as not a moment later the pair heard the rapid thumping of footsteps coming down the stairs followed by Aelita bursting into the kitchen.

"Mom, why didn't you tell me Jacob was here?" she asked in mock frustration as Antea laughed.

"Well, you were otherwise preoccupied!" Antea shot back as Jacob laughed.

"What's new?" he asked with a grin as Aelita playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"You're one to talk," she shot back with a smile as she and her mother joined Jacob at the table, Aelita opening her laptop as she sat down and sliding it into the center of the table so that she, her mom, and Jacob could all see the screen as she pulled up her and her mom's work on the Chimera program. "Okay, so my mom and I did find a glitch in the Chimera program that we're trying to repair before it can be completely usable," she explained as Jacob muttered, "Great…" under his breath. "Don't panic, Jacob; we'll fix it, it's just not usable today."

"Basically what we found is that if the Chimera program were to have been activated in the state that it was currently in, it would have removed XANA's control over the Replika, but a glitch I found in the software would have been uploaded to the Way Tower and caused the Replika to begin disintegrating."

"So basically it would have weakened XANA but done us no good because it would have destroyed the Replika?" Jacob asked as Antea nodded. Just then, a knock was heard at the door, and a moment later, Aelita came back from the entrance hall with Jeremy and Hunter in tow, pulling out two more chairs for the boys to sit down in as Jacob smiled.

"Well, I guess the gang's all here, hm?" he laughed. "Aelita was just telling me about…"

"The glitch we missed in the Chimera coding?" Jeremy asked as Hunter frowned. "Yeah, I saw it last night when I was working so I already knew about it when Aelita called me to explain it a little while ago. I really can't believe our mock runs didn't pick it up," he added quickly.

"Don't worry about it, Jeremy," Antea said reassuringly. "No programmer is perfect, and you've done a more amazing job than most anyone I've ever met. You have a lot to be proud of," she complimented as Jeremy smiled.

"Thank you, Antea. I try my best," he grinned as Aelita and Hunter laughed.

"I'd say _that's_ the understatement of the century," Jacob said as all five technology whizzes laughed, the brunette taking a cookie as he looked at his watch. "Almost time for afternoon classes," he said as he got up from the table. "Don't want to be late…"

"Or else Jim will have our heads," Aelita finished.

"Ugh…" the four students said with a mock shudder as they grabbed their coats.

"Bye Antea; thanks for the snacks! And the information!" Jacob added as he headed for the front door.

"Bye Mom!" Aelita called behind her as the four friends walked out the front door.

"Bye dear; be safe!" Antea replied as she got to work cleaning up her kitchen. "_Because you never know what XANA might have up his sleeve…_" she thought to herself as she began scrubbing dishes…not noticing three forgotten laptops sitting on the table behind her…

At the crossroads…

"Well, I guess the three of us are off," Jeremy chuckled as he, Aelita and Hunter made the turn to head to the Computer Science building. "Have fun with your test in Statistics," he shot back as Jacob groaned.

"Don't remind me…" he muttered as he turned for the Dormitory building and the Math hallway on the first floor, running ahead when he saw a flash of curly brown hair just in front of him. "Boo!" he laughed when he appeared next to Joey.

"Hey, bro…" Joey said with a faint smile as his eyes displayed frustration and hurt in them.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Jake asked instantly. "You know I can read you like an open book; spill," he said gently.

"Parents splitting up…" he finally mumbled after a few long moments of silence. "Don't wanna talk about it…" he said in a near-inaudible whisper as he fought to keep from tearing up. Jacob just stopped, his heart going out to his best friend as the two stood there for several moments, Jake finally placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder as he pulled him ever so gently into a hug as Joey held back the tears burning in his eyes.

"If you need anything you better come find me, okay?" the elder said softly as Joey just nodded, the two breaking apart and splitting, Jacob going to Statistics and Joey going to Algebra as all Jacob could focus on during his test was the hurt his friend was enduring…

Meanwhile, a Tower in the Forest Sector began to glow scarlet as a spectre slowly floated out of an outlet in the Cafeteria and wormed its way into the food preparation room, Rosa humming happily and never noticing a faint black haze settle into her casserole…

After classes were over, the gang quickly gathered at the crossroads…

"Remind me to never skimp out on studying for a Literature test again," Ulrich groaned as William laughed. "That exam was brutal…"

"Me? Remind you to study? When I don't even do it half the time myself? You've got to be kidding, Ulrich," William laughed cynically as Ulrich scowled.

"You sound like Odd; you know that?" he retorted with a grin.

"I guess the prankster's rubbing off on me," he laughed as Jeremy, Aelita and Hunter came over from their Computer Science class.

"What's that about Odd rubbing off on someone?" Aelita asked with a wry grin. "That can't be a good sign!" she remarked as Ulrich laughed.

"Never is," Yumi agreed as she looked around quickly. "Hey, anyone seen Jacob?" she asked as Jeremy looked towards the Dorm building and saw Jacob coming out of the front doors slowly, hand on the shoulder of a tearful Joey as the two separated after a moment, the latter running off towards his Dorm as the former came slowly up to join the gang.

"Hey, guys, sorry; he needed some support…" Jacob murmured as Aelita nodded understandingly.

"Bad day?" she asked as Jacob nodded.

"About the worst you could ask for," he replied. "I'll let him tell people when he's ready," Jake said softly as William agreed.

"That's definitely for the best; we don't need to know," he said as his and Ulrich's stomachs growled simultaneously. "And right now I think my stomach needs to know some dinner!" he added as Jacob looked up and scoffed, a grin beginning to form on his face.

"_Hey, Odd? I think we found a clone of you here at Kadic…_" he thought as in Italy, Jacob's voice rang in the prankster's head and he jumped, startled by the comment as he laughed after a moment.

"Really, Jacob? You couldn't have warned me you were going to do that?" he asked, a grin still ever-present on his face as he laughed, hoping his friends were doing okay without him for now…

In the cafeteria…

"Let's eat!" Ulrich grinned as the whole gang, minus Yumi, who had headed home after a call from her father, sat at their usual table with plates of Rosa's chicken casserole in front of them. Jacob hesitated, a feeling of unease settling around him as he looked around and all of a sudden saw…

…Sissi rocket up from her table, jaws gaping in a soundless wail as she tried to speak, but it was obvious that no matter how loudly she tried to scream, no sound would come out, and Jacob's heart plummeted when he saw other students jump up, also stricken mute by what appeared to be Rosa's famous casserole. He whipped around to look at the others, who had begun eating, but they had already dropped their forks in shock as they began to watch silent pandemonium erupt around them.

"Talk to me, somebody, please!" Jacob hissed as his eyes widened.

"I'm fine," Jeremy said quickly as the others found that they were still able to speak as well. "I'm assuming our immunity from Lyoko protected us from this attack."

"If it even is an attack," William pointed out sarcastically.

"Really, William?" Jacob said quickly as he reached for his laptop bag… "Crap…" he said, muttering under his breath quickly. "Our laptops are at your mom's, Aelita!" he hissed as her eyes widened.

"It has to be an attack!" she shot back, watching as the mass of voiceless students began to flock towards the cafeteria doors towards what she guessed would be the Infirmary. "Ulrich, can you and William stay here and keep wraps on what's going on?" she asked with a worried note creeping into her voice as Ulrich nodded.

"We'll make sure no one asks too many questions…" he replied as the gang split, Ulrich and William going towards the Infirmary and the others heading towards the woods and the Factory…

Meanwhile, at the Ishiyama home…

"Hello?" Yumi asked as he answered her continuously buzzing cell phone. "Oh, hi, Jacob… What? No…" she whispered, making sure her parents couldn't hear her in the kitchen. "I can't get out; we're having a family dinner tonight. My parents will explode if I try to get out of it!" she hissed. "Oh, really? Couldn't have happened to a nicer person…" she laughed. "If you end up still needing me, call me and I'll see what I can do; okay?" she said quickly as she hung up.

"Yumi, who was that?" her mother asked from where she was setting out plates in the kitchen.

"Just a friend from school, Mom; it was nothing important…" she replied, though worrying inside about how far-reaching XANA's attack could become…

At the Factory…

"I just ran the SuperScan from here! The activated Tower is in the Forest Sector! Head down to the Scanner Room, you three!" Jeremy barked as he ran over to his computer chair and slipped on his headset, powering up the Supercomputer monitor as the others made their way down to the scanners.

"_We're here, Einstein!_" Hunter said quickly over the com-link as the trio climbed into their Scanners.

"All right, you ready?" he asked rhetorically, knowing the answer as Jacob laughed.

"What do you think, genius?" the brunette shot back as Jeremy started the procedure…

Meanwhile…

"I can sense that the idiots are coming, Master…" the boy in white, Tyler, said softly, with the faint trace of a hiss in his voice as XANA laughed.

"_Of course they're coming; what did you think they would do?_" the program responded with a distorted growl.

"Is it time? Do I finally get to have my way with him?" Tyler asked expectantly, traces of rage and excitement creeping into his voice as XANA smirked before raising a hand, a signal for the boy to sit down and shut up as XANA continued.

"_Not yet…_" XANA said in a honey-sweet hiss. "_It is almost time, but this attack is simply my way of toying with the Earth children's lives a little bit more… To show them fear…and to show them that they should never take the good of their lives for granted, because I can rip it away just that quickly…_"

"And then…?" Tyler asked hesitantly. XANA just smiled as he walked over to face his greatest pawn, a smile on his face as he replied.

"_And then…you have my full permission to tear the boy apart…make him suffer…and then when it's all over…you have my blessing to kill him and make sure he can't cause us any more problems! Earth will still be mine!_" XANA roared with a maniacal cackle. "_However…I do know of a way you can toy with them_…"

"Here we go! I'm starting the procedure!" Jeremy said over the com-link…

Transfer Aelita, Transfer Hunter, Transfer Jacob!

Scanner Aelita, Scanner Hunter, Scanner Jacob!

Virtualization!

The familiar zip sounded a few moments later as the trio of Warriors appeared over the Forest Sector and dropped to the ground a moment later. Jacob stood up quickly, feeling a sense of dread as he tried to listen for the familiar noises that usually accompanied a trip to Lyoko, but this time…

"Everything's silent," he murmured, Aelita and Hunter looking around and realizing the same thing after a moment. "There's no noise, no nothing. It's as if Lyoko is totally empty, devoid of everything…" he added after a moment, furrowing his brow in confusion as he tried to make something of the situation. "Jeremy, which way is the Tower?" he asked as Jeremy checked the SuperScan quickly.

"_20 degrees West and 5 degrees south of your current position. There should be a huge stone to the side of the path you need to take; you see it?_" he asked as Hunter nodded.

"Yeah, we see it just fine!" he replied as Aelita looked at him with readiness in her eyes.

"Let's move," she replied as the trio took off, disturbing the still-eerie silence on Lyoko as they raced towards the Tower…

Meanwhile…

"Don't panic…" Ulrich said quietly as he sat down next to Sissi. "I know we haven't always gotten along the greatest, but I can tell you're afraid because you don't know what's going on. I wish I could tell you more…but trust me when I say that things are going to be okay, you hear me?" He laid a hand gently on Sissi's shoulder, and was relieved when he finally saw some of the fear leave her eyes.

"_Maybe I was wrong about them…maybe underneath all the toughness and everything they really do care…_" Sissi thought to herself. "_Maybe I do treat them badly and maybe I deserve the hostility they dish out towards me… Maybe it's time for that to change…_"

"I see the Tower!" Hunter hissed as the three of them approached the white pillar. They froze as they reached the main platform it was on, looking around immediately to see if what they were seeing was right…

"Jeremy, are you sure this is right? There are no monsters even guarding this Tower!" Aelita said as Jeremy pulled up his radar screens.

"_Well, the Tower's aura is red, isn't it? That is the activated Tower. And you're right; I have absolutely no monsters on my screens either…_" Jeremy said suspiciously.

"It's almost too easy…" Jacob muttered as he heard a sudden scream from Aelita. He snapped around to see shards of light blue energy, almost like daggers or shuriken, appearing from nowhere and blasting towards Aelita and Hunter. The pair was having an interesting time dodging the daggers, and Aelita gasped as she felt one impact her shoulder, diving towards Jacob and clutching her shoulder as it sparked where she had been hit. Hunter followed a moment later, maintaining a blue shield in front of him that once he got back close enough to Jacob and Aelita, was protecting all three Warriors as Aelita growled in shock and frustration.

"You were saying about this being too easy?" she asked as Jacob's eyes held a layer of shock to them that mirrored her own shock as he replied.

"I should have expected an ambush…" he growled. "The only problem is, what in the heck _is_ it that's attacking us?" he asked curiously as he saw thin cracks beginning to form in Hunter's shield.

"Uh, guys, I can't keep this up all day!" he said frantically as Jacob and Aelita leapt up next to him and prepared for battle. The trio watched as Hunter began to relax his hands, and a moment later, his shield shattered into shards of blue-gray glass as the energy shards blasted through the smoke that was formed by the explosion and sliced through Aelita and Hunter before they could even react, dropping them to the ground as they fragmented before Jacob's eyes.

"No!" the brunette screamed as with that, the blitz attack simply…stopped. Jacob looked up in shock as the energy blasts coming from in front of him ceased, and Jacob just stood there in shock as he looked at the empty space in front of him, his mind straining as he fought with all the emotions bombarding him. He hesitated for a long moment before taking a slow step forward, knowing that if he was right…well, he didn't even want to think about it as he raised his hand, sparks flickering across his palm as his eyes began to glow…

"ENOUGH!" he screamed in rage as he blasted the most powerful bolt of electricity he had ever summoned from his palm, enveloping the entire space in front of him in a lightning storm as he let out a cry of anger. The bolts impacted a section of empty space that they circled around and enveloped before converging on that space and exploding in a violent flash of light and smoke as Jacob took a slight course to his left and sprinted through the smoke cloud, entering the Tower just before the smoke cleared…

Once the smoke cleared, a long moment passed before a section of air in front of the Tower began to shimmer, and a moment later, that patch of space solidified into a human silhouette before Tyler fell forward onto the grassy Sector floor. He moaned in agony as sparks skated over his body, trying to open his eyes before they fluttered shut, the boy passing out in pain and exhaustion as he vanished in a cloud of blue and silver smoke…

"I'm in the Tower, Einstein…" Jacob muttered as he made his way to the center of the platform, each of the three rings on the floor lighting up as he touched it. When he reached the center, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to levitate towards the second platform…

"I failed…" Tyler thought as he felt himself returning to XANA's castle…

"Everything's going to be all right…" Ulrich said softly as Sissi began to cry at the thought of never being able to express again, never being able to complain again, never being able to speak…never being able to apologize for the wrongs she had done to the gang…

JACOB

CODE:

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated…" Jacob said softly as the screens fell around him. He watched them fall to the blackness below, and then saw a rush of watery light rush up from the depths of the Tower as Jeremy entered in the command code…

"Return to the Past, now!" he said swiftly as the white bubble burst out from the Factory and rushed towards Kadic and enveloped the whole area, the last thought before time reverted coming from Sissi as she thought, "_I'm sorry for what I've done to you guys…_"

One day earlier, at the Hermitage…

The entire gang, plus Antea, was seated at the Schaffer's kitchen table, Jacob drumming his fingers nervously and repetitively as Antea spoke.

"So, after a lot of work and recoding, I've managed to repair and complete the Chimera program that Jeremy and Hunter created. Basically, how it will operate is like this: Aelita or Jacob will have to run the program from the Replika's Way Tower, and once the program begins, a five-minute countdown will begin while the program commences in purging the Replika of XANA's control. You have to defend the Tower at all costs during the procedure! If XANA manages to claim control over the Tower while the Chimera code is running, then he will be able to purge you guys from the Replika. Violently," she added as Ulrich winced. "Not to mention he would undoubtedly cause major damage to the program in the process."

"So it's like an extended version of 'Find the Key', except that we don't have to go searching," Yumi said in explanation as Jeremy nodded.

"Exactly!" he laughed as Aelita added, "Odd couldn't have said it any better himself!" Once Antea was finished with her continued explanation of all the ins and outs of the Chimera procedure, Hunter and Aelita turned to Jacob with worry flickering in Hunter's eyes and confusion flickering in Aelita's.

"Jacob, now I've got a question," Aelita said quietly as the brunette's eyes flickered, all the old emotion having been reawakened, but this time, it wasn't pain that the pinkette saw in his eyes, it was revenge she noticed as she continued, having a feeling he already knew what she would say as she continued. "When we were attacked in the Forest Sector…do you know what it was that ambushed us?" she asked as he sighed deeply before finally letting out a long sigh, allowing himself to think about memories that he always had a feeling would resurface, but he never imagined actually would as he slowly began to speak.

"Yes. I do, and you guys are not going to like it," he added as the gang stared intently at him, Jacob's eyes falling on Hunter and Antea specifically as he continued after a moment. "XANA has somehow managed to join forces with or gain control of; I'm not sure which; a very dangerous pawn. One who is the cause of the emotional meltdowns that I had recently on Lyoko because of the immense pain he caused me in my past. This is someone who is a very real threat to us because of the knowledge he possesses about our cause," he continued as Antea's eyes began to widen in stunned shock. Jacob took another long breath before sighing and continuing, uttering the words he hoped he would never have to face. "XANA has managed to recruit to his side…Tyler Ross…" he finished in a whisper as Antea let out a gasp, her worst thoughts having been realized as Jacob began to explain the story of the boy who was the cause of so much darkness in his past…

LW94: And so the explanation is finally here…prepare for backstory with Aelita, Hunter, Franz, Antea, and Jacob as the real story behind this season begins…

Next time:

**Episode 133: Tyler**

As Jacob explains the story of the mysterious boy in white, Tyler Ross, XANA begins formulating a plan of counterattack against the Lyoko Warriors with the help of his dark team of minions, Taelia, Ari, and Tyler. It's all going to lead up to a clash of good and evil, with bonds being tested and emotions being frayed, and all of the action begins…next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	11. Episode 133:  Tyler

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Code Lyoko…wish I did…own my OCs…**

**A/N: This chapter was the hardest chapter emotionally for me to write so far, both from a mental standpoint and a realistic one, as I tried to put a lot of my own experienced emotion, even if it's not the true situation, into this very heart-wrenching chapter…please, READ AND REVIEW and let me know how I did. This chapter is an important one to me.**

**Episode 133: Tyler**

"Antea, if you don't mind, I'd like to tell the story leading into the story," Jacob said softly. Antea nodded as the brunette took a deep breath before slowly beginning to speak…

"All of you know the general story behind the creation of Lyoko and everything that has happened with it up to now. You know that Franz Hopper and his wife Antea were the head programmers on a government experiment known as Project Carthage, a military weapons system designed to interfere with enemy communications on which construction was begun in the late 1980s. You also know that eventually, for multiple reasons, work on Project Carthage was halted and the request was made for the program to be dissolved and destroyed before it could fall into the wrong hands. Franz Hopper created XANA and Lyoko for that purpose, to destroy Carthage. But, as this group is all aware, XANA eventually became self-aware as Franz used the time reversion feature of the Supercomputer he built to perfect Lyoko, the world in which XANA was harbored. He also became increasingly paranoid over that time, eventually believing his enemies were coming to get him, which in fact, they were, although Hopper didn't know this. Due to his paranoia, he used the time reversions to perfect, as closely as was possible, Lyoko, as a safe haven for he and his daughter, Aelita," Jacob said, giving a small nod to Aelita as he continued. "You then know a decade passed before Jeremy discovered Lyoko, Aelita, and XANA, and the rest is history. Aelita comes to Earth and XANA is destroyed before returning again. All of that, you guys know. But that isn't the entire story," he said, pausing to take a breath as he continued. "Franz and Antea couldn't work on Project Carthage alone; in fact, a team of world-renowned programmers and engineers came in to work on this top-secret government project. Four couples were selected for this elite team. Franz and Antea were one of the four pairs. And as life and time passed, each of the pairs, in their own time, had a child, each of which would eventually end up with knowledge of Project Carthage because of who their parents were. Two of those children were born before the project began and grew up during the central years of Project Carthage's growth. Aelita was one of those two children, and Michael Hunter was the second; his parents being the communications and weapons specialists on the team," he added, turning his gaze to Hunter for a moment before continuing again. "Those two children became good friends and were both sealed away in virtual space for nearly a decade because of XANA. The other two children were born later, and learned of the workings of Project Carthage from their parents. My parents," Jacob said with a slight pause, "who were the physics specialists tasked with creating the virtualization and materialization programs, protocols, and technology, were the third pair selected to work on Project Carthage. I was born almost eight years after Aelita and Hunter, and spent two years trapped in virtual space myself because XANA managed to find and kill both of my parents. And now, XANA is trying to find and eliminate any surviving member of the team that worked on Carthage, as well as their children."

"But wait, Jacob," Jeremy interrupted. "You said there were four pairs, a total of eight people. Who were the last two?"

"I was getting there, Jeremy, but thank you for asking," the brunette replied as he took another long sigh before continuing and answering the question he had been asked. "The fourth pair of programmers, who would later go on to have a child nearly twelve years after Aelita and Hunter, were the defense specialists assigned to the Project Carthage team."

"Defense meaning…?" Ulrich asked curiously.

"Hacking, security, undercover work, counterintelligence…basically anything to protect the team, they handled," Antea explained. "And for a long time, we trusted them with our lives," she added as Jacob muttered under his breath. "But before the project was complete, they went rogue, and took a copy of our software when they vanished."

"Wait, software? What software?" Jeremy asked as Hunter and Jacob both looked at him with slightly surprised looks on their faces.

"You mean you haven't figured it out, Einstein?" Hunter asked as Jacob cocked an eyebrow at the blond.

"I'm surprised he hasn't," Jacob commented, but at blank stares from the rest of the group, he elaborated. "To ensure that the work from Project Carthage wasn't lost if it was ever found and confiscated by international authorities…"

"International? I thought this was a French project?" William said as Jacob shushed him with a wave of his hand.

"If you all would hush long enough for me to be able to finish a sentence this might make a lot more sense…" he said as he waited until there was silence from the group before continuing. "Project Carthage was initiated by the French government, but France pulled in the best from across the world and created a pact between the nations working on the project that the four countries would never attack one another with the technology they were creating. Thus, if the project was discovered, international authorities would be involved. However, that's not all that went on beyond the French borders…" Jacob said as he paused to breathe. "As I was saying, to ensure that if Carthage was discovered by government authorities it would not be forever lost, Franz set out to designing a kind of 'sustaining bubble', where the technology would be held and able to be activated and deactivated at will, almost like a holding chamber. This was the original technology that would eventually become…"

"The Supercomputer!" Jeremy breathed as it finally clicked in his head.

"Yes, bravo Einstein, and welcome to the party," Hunter smirked as Jacob began to speak again.

"The original Supercomputer for Project Carthage that Franz was to use was in the bunker underneath the Mountain Cabin, but when Antea was kidnapped, that Supercomputer was never finished, and not long after, when Hunter's parents were attacked, the Project Carthage team was finally disbanded, each family going their own way, but before Franz left, he gave each of the remaining two families a copy of the blueprints to the Supercomputer, ensuring that they would be able to protect the Carthage data wherever they landed. And that is exactly what happened."

"You mean there are _four_ Lyokos?" Jeremy asked incredulously as Jacob shook his head.

"No. Franz kept the final technology for Lyoko for himself, but he left both my parents and Hunter's parents with a copy of one Sector to be able to create the prototype Supercomputers and download the Carthage data onto them. Hunter had the Desert Sector, and I had the Forest Sector. Franz kept the original blueprints to the Mountain Sector, in case he was ever able to finish the Cabin's Supercomputer and copies of all the other Sector blueprints, and the original Ice Sector blueprints were those that were stolen. Of course, Franz kept copies of everything, hence how Lyoko came into being. My parents and I fled to England, and set up our Supercomputer in an abandoned power plant on the outskirts of London."

"My parents took me across the ocean to the United States, and then further into Canada," Hunter explained, and we built our Supercomputer in the basement of an abandoned DHL plant in Toronto, Ontario. When they were attacked, I did the only thing possible to protect myself, and virtualized into our Supercomputer, locking myself away in the Core. I was thirteen at the time, just like Aelita…"

"And of course we all know what happened to me," Aelita added as she looked at her mother and the rest of the gang, who nodded in agreement.

"That's all well and good, Jacob, but it still doesn't tell us who the fourth family was, or how they connect to what's happening now with XANA," Yumi pointed out.

"True," Jacob admitted. "I guess I went off on a tangent," he admitted with a wry chuckle. "The fourth family involved in Project Carthage was the Rosses, Susan Elizabeth Ross, an expert hacker who could break into anything, anytime, anywhere in the world, and her husband, Matthias Samuel Ross, a counterintelligence expert with connections in the Russian government. They were the pair who fled the project just before it was decommissioned completely, and stole Franz's original data for the Ice Sector to build their Supercomputer. They eventually went rogue, not working for any one government or country specifically, and nearly twelve years after Hunter and Aelita were born, they had a child, Tyler."

"That would make him…what? Two years younger than us? A seventh grader?" Ulrich asked; doing the math quickly in his head as Jacob nodded.

"That's right, Ulrich; very good," he replied. "Now, as Tyler was growing up, the Rosses happened to land in England for an extended period of time." At this point, Jacob's voice had begun to drop in volume, and Aelita was starting to see some of the emotion she had seen before creep back into his gaze as he continued, his eyes flickering rapidly as he spoke. "And as such, they made their way to London, enrolling Tyler in school in a private academy there. At the time, they did not realize that I was there as well, but when I finally came into contact with Tyler, I was overjoyed. It felt like seeing a long-lost friend or relative for the first time in many years, and I suppose, it was. I thought I could trust the kid, and opened up to him. We began to restore what I thought was a strong friendship, but…I was wrong…" Jacob said; his voice nearly a whisper now as he continued, his eyes glistening. "He used my openness, my friendship, my trust in him…against me…and lied to me and betrayed me. When I got too close, he pushed me away, ratted out the secrets I had told him in confidence, and framed me for an accident at the school to get me expelled from the academy. He had changed, and I was too blind to see it; his heart had grown cold, and his only focus now was ruining the lives of others, but especially me… And the final stamp of destruction he laid on me was unforgivable…" Jacob mumbled, "He came into contact with XANA…and betrayed the location of my parents to him…and led XANA right to my mom and dad…" Jacob choked, beginning to cry as he uttered one final sentence… "Because of that…that evil little leech…my parents are dead…" Jacob sobbed as he finally broke down, unable to continue as he laid his head down on the table and began to cry uncontrollably as Aelita and Jeremy got up from their seats and walked over to him, Aelita pulling up her chair next to him and wrapping her arms around him, allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder as sobs racked his frail frame. Jeremy laid a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it before taking one of Jacob's hands in his own and just held it, trying to give him encouragement and comfort in as much a brotherly way as he could muster as the brunette just cried his heart out, the rest of the gang looking on with the utmost concern for their friend. After several long minutes, the tears slowly subsided, and Jacob's sobs dwindled to sniffles and shudders running through his body as he slowly sat up, Antea handing him a tissue to dry his eyes as he took several long, deep, shaky breaths before looking at the gang with reddened eyes and an apologetic expression. "I'm…I'm sorry, guys…I shouldn't have broken down…like that…" he hiccupped as Ulrich shook his head.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, man. What you just admitted; what that Tyler kid did to you…basically playing a hand in killing them…that _is_ unforgivable…and those memories brought up all kinds of pain that I for one know I would never want to face in this lifetime…" he said softly. "I don't blame you for being upset in the least…"

"Nor do any of the rest of us…" Yumi added as the others nodded their heads in agreement, Jacob looking at all of them with gratitude.

"You guys are amazing friends…thank you…" he said softly. "Um…where was I…?" he asked slowly, then smacking his head as if it were obvious. "That's right," he said after a long moment. "After my parents were killed, I never knew what became of the Rosses…until a few weeks ago when first XANA attacked me with Tyler's gaze; his eyes…and then Tyler showed up in the Core Zone while I was talking to your father, Aelita…"

"You spoke to my father?" Aelita asked incredulously as Antea stared in shock at the brunette sitting at her table.

"Briefly…although he never left the Core. It was through my Telepathy…" Jacob explained as Aelita furrowed her brow for a moment before understanding dawned in her eyes.

"I understand…he was staying safe…" Aelita murmured.

"Yes, and right after that was when Tyler appeared in the Core Zone, and the pain overwhelmed me. I know you used your powers to suppress the emotion, Aelita…" he said softly as she nodded, "but even that wasn't permanent. When he attacked us in the Forest Sector yesterday…"

"So that was the little brat that attacked us!" Hunter exclaimed as Jacob nodded.

"Yes, except XANA must have sight-shielded him from us to try and catch us off-guard. But, once you two were devirtualized, he just…stopped attacking. As if even though he has all the hate in the world for me, he couldn't bring himself to attack me, one of his only former friends," Jacob mused. "I don't know the answer to that 'why?', but I do know this. Somehow, XANA found him and convinced him to join his cause, and because of the knowledge Tyler has about Lyoko, Carthage, and everything else, that makes him a very dangerous threat to us."

"So now XANA has a small contingent…" Jeremy muttered as Jacob nodded.

"Yes. Between Taelia, Tyler and Ari, he's now made himself a lot harder to take down because of that. I know we still have the advantage of numbers, but we won't always have everyone available to fight because of that. That's why I've been working on some upgrades to each of your Lyoko Profiles…"

"Really?" Ulrich asked with a grin. "Without Jeremy?" he said with a grin as Jeremy laughed sarcastically.

"Ha…haha, no," the blond retorted with a smile. "He can't get anything past me…"

"Oh, really?" Jacob asked with a raised eyebrow which elicited chuckles from the entire group.

"Anyways…" Jeremy continued, with a sideways glance at Jacob, "We upgraded Ulrich's Super Sprint, William's Super Smoke to include the 'Captivity' ability he used to trap Aelita on his various missions…"

"Hey…" William warned.

"It's fine, Will, you're not going back to the dark side; it's meant to help," Jacob said calmly, quenching the fire in William's gaze. "I worked on Yumi's Telekinesis ability and added a special trick called 'Time Slow'…which is exactly what its name suggests, by the way, Yumi…" Jacob added as she shot him an excited glance, "I gave Aelita the 'Petrification' ability like I possess…" he continued as she grinned wickedly. "And Hunter…" he added, trailing off as the raven-haired boy cast him a strange look.

"What? Nothing for me?" he asked, confused as Jacob and Jeremy shared a glance before Jeremy turned to him.

"I actually did some digging…" he said mysteriously. "Turns out there was some unused data in your virtual profile that your parents never had a chance to finish before you got forced into virtual captivity. I managed to extract it and decrypt most of it, and the data pack was _several_ unused powers that had never been actually installed into your profile. Some were stupid and not very useful," he added, "but I kept the fun ones and worked on them for you. You ended up with…Super Rift, which is similar to Ulrich's Super Sprint and William's Super Smoke, Corrosion, which is pretty self-explanatory, and one more power that I'm still working on because there were some glitches in it, but I'll let you know when I get it finished," he chuckled as Hunter's eyes lit up.

"Ooh…now I'm kind of itching for a fight…" he said with an excited and yet menacing undertone as Jacob turned to the whole gang.

"Now, the Chimera program is operational and ready to go," he explained as they gazed at his steely eyes intently. "That means tomorrow, we take the Skid and hunt down a Replika to try and obtain for our cause. It will not be an easy fight," he warned. "XANA, I'm sure, is aware of our plans and is plotting a way to stop us. So we will have to be on our guards, but I trust all of you and I think we can do this. It won't happen overnight though. According to Jeremy's math we'll need a total of 12 Supercomputers to have the processing power necessary to break the encryptions that are keeping Franz from us. So, that's eleven more than we currently have," he finished as Ulrich glared at the wall behind Jacob.

"It doesn't matter what it will take," he growled. "I'm ready to do whatever's necessary to bring Franz home, not to mention to avenge what that brat Tyler did to you! Let's do this!" he finished as the whole gang, one by one, put their hands in the center of the table.

"We're united then?" Hunter asked as he got a nod from every member of the gang, Jacob last of all.

"We are," the brunette said shortly as Hunter nodded in reply.

"For Earth!" the gang said in unison as they lifted their hands in the air, Antea smiling as she saw the commitment that these kids had to making the world a safe place again, not to mention bringing her husband, her daughter's father, and a definite friend to them, back home.

"_Just be prepared for anything…_" she thought with a worried glance at her daughter. "_I don't want to lose anyone this time around…_"

Meanwhile, in the throne room of XANA's castle…

"_So…the little brats want to sap my power to bring my creator home? How ironic…_" the program laughed as he looked up into the fog that shadowed the corners of the room. "_My minions! Show yourselves!_" he hissed as Taelia, Ari, and lastly Tyler, appeared after a moment from the shadows, walking up slowly to crouch down before his throne.

"You summoned us, Master?" Taelia asked as XANA nodded after a moment, a wicked smile creeping onto his face.

"_I did…_" the program hissed in reply. "_It's time we launch an attack on those little Earthlings that they can't avoid or stop…one that will make them powerless to defend themselves…_" he whispered as Tyler cast a lone brown eye at him.

"But Master, how can you be so sure that this time we will succeed?" he asked almost timidly as XANA just chuckled morbidly in response.

"_We may have lost before, but this time, I plan on striking at the true heart of the blasted Warriors… And when I do…we'll have enough firepower to end their hopes of stopping us once and for ALL!_" he hissed in response, the last word a near-screech as the whole area shook in response, a violent lightning bolt passing over the castle followed by a loud clap of thunder. Taelia shuddered at XANA's anger as Tyler just gazed calmly at the demonic red eyes, unflinching as XANA came off of the throne and stood in front of him. "_You think I can't do it?_" he asked as Tyler smirked in reply.

"Oh, no, if I'm thinking what you're thinking, then I agree…there won't be anyone, and I mean _anyone_, that can stop us…" he said in a hissed whisper as XANA smiled evilly.

"_That's the right answer…_" the program hissed as he looked into the shadows again… "_Show yourself, my beast!_" he shrieked as he raised his hand to call a monster from the depths of his palace, one that he had not summoned in many encounters with the Warriors as Taelia and Ari turned to see what was coming out of the shadows…

Tyler just smirked as the Scyphozoa appeared from the shadows, its red tentacles glowing as it approached its Master, completely subservient to the order it was about to receive…

"_My fiend…mighty Scyphozoa…this is your task…_" XANA hissed sweetly. "_When next the human Jacob appears in virtual reality…I want you to find him…and I want you to bring him to me…whatever it takes…_" he hissed as the squid-like creature's eye blinked once in response before it melted away into the shadows, leaving the three minions silent on the floor as XANA's eyes glowed triumphantly…

"_And once you're here…then, you'll finally belong to me…and we'll finish what we started, Jacob…mark my words…_" Tyler thought as a maniacal grin appeared on his face at the plan, his plan; that was only just beginning…

LW94: And thus, the real battle for control begins…and the Scyphozoa returns! Let me know what YOU WANT to happen next! I am now accepting reader submissions!

Next time…

**Episode 134: CHIMERA**

As the Lyoko Warriors set out on their first assimilation mission to begin the effort to rescue Franz, old foes will resurface and new ones will strike…and one Warrior will be at the center of it all…next time, on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


	12. Episode 134: CHIMERA, Part I

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Code Lyoko…wish I did…own my OCs…**

**A/N: To all my readers…I don't even know if I can apologize enough for making you wait so long on this. Between high school finals, graduation, and starting college, I just have not had time to write anything here of late, and for that, I am so sorry. I owe you all big-time, and I hope this is only the beginning. This got so big so fast when I finally had time to start writing it that I (thankfully, actually) had to split CHIMERA into two parts. I probably don't deserve it for making you wait so long, but read and review please…I would like the feedback. Again guys…I am so sorry. Please enjoy the action as it returns now. Here is CHIMERA, Part I!**

**Episode 134: CHIMERA, Part I**

The following morning…

"What's up, gang?" Jacob asked, in a strangely good mood as he joined the gang at the crossroads. He sounded like he had been running, and Aelita laughed at his slightly disheveled appearance as she reached a hand up to smooth his hair.

"You look like you just rode five miles in a convertible," she chuckled as Ulrich grinned.

"Yeah, or went two rounds in the spin cycle," he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I woke up late this morning and you can tell…" he shot back with a sarcastic playfulness as he reached over to punch the brunette lightly in the shoulder. Ulrich feigned pain before jumping slightly and turning around when he heard Jeremy and Hunter's footsteps behind him.

"Sheesh, Einstein; a little warning next time?" he scowled playfully as Hunter laughed.

"What, the big bad samurai doesn't know when someone's sneaking up on him?" Hunter mocked as he and Ulrich got into a scuffle. Jacob laughed before reaching over and separating the two.

"Calm down, you two; we don't need you laid up before tonight," he chuckled as Hunter and Ulrich both stood up and shot Jacob their best puppy-dog looks. "Not gonna work," he added with a grin as Aelita chuckled. "Speaking of which, Einstein, do we have a plan?" he asked as Jeremy scoffed, his glasses glaring in the early-sunlight as he turned to the brunette.

"Are you kidding?" he asked with a wry laugh. "We've never launched something this sophisticated before; I don't even have an escape plan yet!"

"Well, that's reassuring…" Jacob shot back as Jeremy laughed.

"Would I ever send you guys in without a plan?" he asked as Aelita laughed. "Don't answer that," he remarked playfully as Jacob punched him in the arm before watching the School Gates intently as William and Yumi came up to join them.

"Morning, all," William said, in a slightly cheery tone as Hunter nodded.

"Morning, guys," he replied as the rest of the group agreed in mumbled and scattered remarks.

"So, what's the plan?" Yumi asked as Ulrich groaned.

"Get through the day," he replied with a smirk as suddenly, the bell rang signifying the start of classes. "Ugh…we have English this morning with Ms. Miles…" he said as all of the ninth graders groaned in reply.

"We've heard stories; have fun with that!" William shot back as the two tenth graders departed from the gang and headed to their Chemistry class with Mrs. Hertz. The others began walking towards the main class building and Jacob dropped back, seeing Joey not too far behind them.

"Morning, bro," he said with a slight smile as the younger boy looked up and let the faintest of smiles ghost across his lips.

"Hey…" he said softly as his eyes flickered. Jacob furrowed his brow at that look, and stopped when Joey's footsteps faltered slightly. "Joey…what's wrong?" he asked hesitantly as the younger boy just looked up hollowly at him.

"Just rough…" he said as the two walked the rest of the way to their classes in silence; the whole time Jacob was worrying and wondering if there was anything he could do to help…

"_It's almost time…_" XANA whispered as he looked up from his throne out to the shadows enveloping the obsidian walls of his castle. "_Tyler!_" he called sharply as the boy appeared a moment later, a splash of white and blue against the darkness.

"Yes, Master?" he asked as he bowed his head.

"_You and I both know that the band of brats won't stop until I am powerless and destroyed. And you know as well as I do that we cannot stop Jacob without help…simply because his powers are far too strong and I am still in a hindered state. You asked me before about getting inside his head? I think it's time for the mind games to begin…_" the program hissed darkly as an evil grin lit up Tyler's face.

"And I know exactly how to play them…" he replied as he closed his eyes and melted away into the shadows. "_This is going to be fun…_" he thought with a maniacal laugh as he willed his way out of the Network and towards one thought in particular. Home…

In the ninth-grade English class…

"Now, class, if you would turn to page 72 in _Heart of Darkness_…" Jacob instantly let himself zone out; he had no need to listen to the lesson because he was days ahead of everyone else. "_Sometimes there are perks to being the top of your class…_" he thought to himself with a faint chuckle as he lost himself in the recesses of his mind, mulling over the mission they had planned tonight and the beginning of their quest to rescue Franz once and for all…

"_How sweet…it's actually pleasant in your head sometimes…_" Tyler said with a cynical jab as Jacob's eyes bolted open, causing Ms. Miles to look at him funny before he slowly nodded and mumbled he was fine. He turned to Jeremy, trying to indistinctly sign to him that there was a problem, but the blond took no notice as Jacob turned his attention back to Tyler with a growl.

"_Get OUT of my head!_" he hissed with a flare of anger as the boy laughed heartily, as if the idea was no more than a joke to him.

"_But what fun would that be?_" he asked mockingly as Jacob just growled in utter frustration, his emotion threatening to boil over as he forced himself to calm down long enough to listen to what Tyler had to say.

"_What the hell do you want?_" Jacob hissed as Tyler laughed in mock humor.

"_Now, now, calm down…I don't respond well to anger…_" he mocked as Jacob struggled to control his fury.

"_And I don't respond well to a traitor; now, get OUT!_" Jacob screeched mentally. Tyler just cackled in amusement as Jacob growled before he grated out his next sentence. "_You have five seconds…say what you need to…_"

"_Oh, goody, you do see things my way!_" he said with an evil grin and a pleased chuckle. "_Now…listen close, because I'm only going to say this __**one**__ time. You're going to come to Lyoko alone; you're going to get the Skid, and you're going to come to me. And then, we're going to finish the conversation we started over two years ago._"

"_There's a reason I didn't speak to you after what you did! You betrayed my family!_"

"_I did what I had to_," he said simply. "_Come, and I'll explain everything to you; I swear on my life._"

"_Why should I believe any word you have to say?_" Jacob hissed.

"_Because you have something to lose_," he replied as Jacob froze for a moment.

"_And if I don't come…?_" the brunette asked as Tyler scoffed so softly that Jacob had to strain to hear it.

"_Then I will make sure you lose everything that is dear to you…_" he hissed as he put images in Jacob's head of Aelita and Jeremy being tortured, of the rest of the gang fighting XANA and slowly being pulled into the shadows, and of…

"ENOUGH!" Jacob shrieked, not realizing he had spoken aloud until everyone in the class turned to stare at him with wide eyes. He immediately gasped and looked up at Ms. Miles, his gaze shaking as she looked at him in concern.

"Jacob…?" she said after a long moment of shocked silence. "Is everything okay…?" He slowly looked at her with glittering eyes and shook his head sharply before she nodded sympathetically and allowed him to gather his things and head for the infirmary. As he walked out, Jeremy and Aelita cast worried looks his direction, but he did not stop to acknowledge them as he silently slipped out of the room. However, he did not walk down towards the Nurse's office; instead, he slipped through the shadows until he reached a back entrance to the Gym locker rooms. He slowly opened the door and silently slipped inside, closing the door behind him as he dashed for the Boiler Room entrance. Once inside, he made his way to the main tunnel and stopped when he heard an eerie chuckle resonate in his head again…

"_I knew you would see things my way…_" Tyler whispered as he let out a faint snarl.

"Shut up, Tyler," Jacob growled in reply as he came to the ladder leading to the Factory Bridge…

Meanwhile…

"We're finished, Ms. Miles," Jeremy, Aelita and Hunter said simultaneously as they handed her their assignments and then left the room with their things, waiting a few minutes at the end of the hall before Ulrich joined them, his eyes refocusing as he looked at the three of them.

"Well, that was fun…" he said sarcastically as Jeremy's laptop suddenly started going off with more alarms than he could comprehend as he lunged in his bag for his laptop and scanned the Alert messages hastily as his eyes widened.

"Hunter, call William and Yumi! It looks like we're starting the Chimera mission now! Jacob's gone to Lyoko alone!"

"Ungh…" Jacob grunted as he softly landed on the Arena floor and turned towards the tunnel, which opened after a moment and allowed him to dash through towards the Core Zone. He summoned his Overwheel and jumped onto it mid-stride as he bolted through the Core Zone mazes. Strangely enough, everything was quiet as he reached the edge of the Core Zone and the elevator for the Skid hangar. As the elevator soared up from below, Jacob dove forward off of his Overwheel, flipping forward and landing on the elevator as it continued on its track. "I am good…" he chuckled to himself as the elevator slowed and came to a stop at the path leading down to the hanger. He got off and dashed forward into the main hangar, but before he could step on the pilot's Teleport pad, he was stopped by a blue haze in front of him, and a moment later, Tyler materialized in front of him, a wide grin on his face as he began to slowly and sarcastically applaud the brunette's effort.

"Well, well…you decided to show up…" Tyler said with a merciless chuckle as he laid his glowing brown eyes on Jacob, who tensed as he glared ferociously back at his younger foe…

Tyler Ross was tall for his age, standing almost a head taller than Jacob, with auburn brown hair and empty brown eyes that held a layer of ice and fury in them unrivaled by anyone in France. He also held an air of arrogant confidence that made many who opposed him shudder when they faced him. On Earth, he had been a star basketball player at his middle school before he had been pulled into his parents' life, and that was still somewhat evidenced in his Lyoko appearance. He was wearing a long-sleeved, form-fitting white shirt with long blue pants that appeared as if they were made of nylon, although Jacob knew virtually, that wasn't the case. He held a mysterious blue aura around his hands, and a sapphire-colored dagger rested in a sheath on his waist. Oddly missing from his attire, however; was the Eye of XANA, which Jacob immediately noticed as he looked closely at his former friend.

"What, XANA wasn't feeling possessive enough to mark you as his?" he scoffed as Tyler growled menacingly in reply.

"No, that just shows that I'm serving him willingly. If I wanted to, I could show the Eye, but I feel it's not necessary. In the end, you all know which side I'm on…" he muttered, trailing off and creating an air of unease in the room as Jacob shifted nervously on his feet before speaking again.

"What do you want from me, Tyler…?" he asked slowly as the brunette looked at him with a maniacal glint creeping into his gaze. He began to chuckle before bursting out into a dark cackle that echoed off the walls as he looked his foe in the eyes before replying.

"What I've always wanted. Vengeance for what you did to me…" he hissed as Jacob's eyes flashed before the purple-clad Warrior lashed out an almost instantaneous reply.

"You liar!" he screeched as Tyler took a step back in shock. "I never did anything to you, and if you searched your heart long enough you would realize that!" At this, Tyler's gaze burned in absolute fury at his former friend contradicting him like that, and his hands began to glow as his emotion began to overflow.

"Shut up!" Tyler screeched, his voice breaking as he shot his hand across his chest, sending a shower of energy shards towards Jacob, who raised a hand nonchalantly and summoned his energy shield to stop the barrage.

"I don't…want to fight you, Tyler…" Jacob said wearily as all the pain that he had kept back for years came to the surface. The taller brunette stared emotionlessly for a few moments before a spark returned to his eyes and his shoulders slumped slightly, his sudden outburst of anger seemingly over as he spoke again.

"Then come quietly…" he nearly whispered as Jacob's eyes widened.

"Never…" the elder brunette hissed. "And you say I was manipulative… Why…am I here?" he asked in a grated tone as Tyler's eyes began to flash again.

"I already told you. You're here because it's time I had my revenge… But more importantly, you're here because you present a threat to XANA, and for that I have to stop you. Not to mention I kind of want to…" he added with a crazed grin as Jacob's eyes glittered in shock. The Warrior looked up into the eyes of his former friend, and simply searched them for a long time. He looked into the heart of that gaze…and found nothing but pain…and anger…and hatred. And above it all, he saw a lust for power and revenge that he knew was driving Tyler to unimaginable levels. Nowhere in that stare did he see a trace of the friend he once knew. And in that moment, Jacob's heart lost all sympathy for the boy he once called an ally and a companion, and he allowed his gaze to harden in cold finality.

"If you want to seek revenge, then so be it. But in that case, you have made an enemy of me, as well as the rest of my friends. I thought maybe by coming, I could open your eyes to what you were doing. I didn't want to come," Jacob admitted, "because I didn't want to face you again. But now…" he trailed off for a moment, gathering his words, "I realize something. That it's not you that I'm facing. Not anymore…"

"And yet, it is me, Jacob. You can't see that?" Tyler asked almost innocently as Jacob's fury flared again.

"No! What I see is a hollow shell of the person I once knew! I see someone who is so consumed by the past and by desires of vengeance and power that he can't look beyond himself and see that there is goodness, that there is hope…beyond the darkness. I don't see you, Tyler. Not now. All I see when I look at you is XANA. And because of that…I'm not afraid of you anymore," he said defiantly as a faint glow began to creep into his eyes. "And I won't come quietly, not with you, and not to XANA's clutches. If you want your revenge, you'll have to take it. You wanted a war…well, now you've got one…" the brunette finished as something snapped inside Tyler. All of the fury and resentment that had been bubbling inside him finally erupted, and as his eyes blasted up to meet Jacob's defiant gaze, he let out a crazed scream, creating a raging blue aura that engulfed his entire body. Jacob cried out as he was thrown backwards, and as he struggled to his feet, he gasped in shock, watching as the white in Tyler's Lyoko outfit melted away and turned jet-black. The light began to engulf the boy until Jacob could no longer see him, and Jacob covered his eyes until the blinding glow began to dim…

"Let's move, you guys!" Jeremy snapped as he started up the virtualization protocols…

When Jacob finally opened his eyes, he gaped at the sight before him. No longer in front of him was a representation of the Tyler Ross he had known for so many years. Now, Tyler's outfit was composed of a black top with blue trim on the sleeves and a blue Eye of XANA on his chest. His pants were now black with silver and blue embellishments, and his blue basketball shoes were now jet-black. He had a black war streak below each eye, and his usually tidy brown hair was now messy and ruffled. But the most striking change was his eyes. Once soft brown and layered slightly with pain and anguish, the only feature you could see in them now was rage, even though he did not exhibit the Eye of XANA in his pupils. After a long, silent moment, Tyler finally lifted his head and met Jacob's horrified gaze, letting out a manic chuckle as he lifted his hand.

"Now you see what I've become… I thought we could do this the easy way…but obviously I was wrong…" Tyler said in an eerie growl as he let out a distorted cry. "Come, my beast!" he hissed as a seam in the wall opened behind him, and Jacob gasped as the Scyphozoa silently floated out in front of him. "If you won't come quietly, I have no choice but to force you to come…" Tyler said in a slightly distorted voice as the Scyphozoa moved towards Jacob…

"Not happening!" William howled as an energy pulse blasted over Jacob's head and sliced straight through the Scyphozoa's tentacles, causing it to shriek and retreat back to Tyler's side. Jacob then just raised his hand and released an Energy Field that impacted the Eye on the Scyphozoa's head, causing it to disintegrate as Tyler's eyes widened in shock. The rest of the Warriors ran up and joined on either side of Jacob, ready for battle as Tyler's gaze flitted from end to end of the line, trying to come up with a plan of attack as Jacob took a step forward.

"Tyler, just give it up…you can't fight all of us…" Jacob said wearily as Tyler glared defiantly back at the Warriors.

"Not here, I can't," he retorted. "I know your plans. If you want to start gaining the power to rescue Franz, you're going to have to go through us…" he whispered, referencing Taelia and Ari as his body began to fade into the shadows that were now surrounding him. "Come to the Forest Replika…I'll be waiting…" he said simply as he disappeared into the darkness. A moment later, the hangar's lights began to flicker back on as Jeremy prepped the Skid for travel. The gang moved onto their Teleport Pads as Aelita turned to Jacob, who looked troubled by everything that had just occurred.

"Jacob…why did you come?" she asked softly. "Why not wait for us?"

"He threatened me," Jacob said simply, and Aelita saw in his eyes that she would not get any more information out of him as his gaze gained a layer of finality to it.

"_Are you guys ready?_" Jeremy asked over the com-link.

"Roger," Aelita said as Jeremy typed the command code.

"_Energize_," he said simply as the Warriors vanished in a flash and appeared in their NavSkids a moment later. Aelita took the controls immediately and did not hesitate to start the castoff procedures no more everyone was safely inside.

"Power, online. Shields, online. Thrusters, online. Cast off! Full steam ahead!" she said over the com-link as she moved the throttle to full speed, activating the thrusters and powering the Skid up out of the North Pole of Sector Five. She deftly maneuvered the Skid until it was vertical over the Digital Sea, paused for the briefest of moments, and then dove at top speed into the calm waters…


	13. Episode 135: CHIMERA, Part II

**DISCLAIMER: Own my OCs…not Code Lyoko…**

**A/N: Here's Part II of the CHIMERA arc, and I promise, there is more to come now that I am settled into college. Please don't hate me guys…I made you wait and for that I am sorry. Hope I can make t up to you…**

**Episode 135: CHIMERA, Part II**

A moment later, the Skid emerged out of the Access Tunnel, and Aelita quickly flicked on the lights and hit the brakes to slow the Skid to a safe speed. Then, flicking on the autopilot switch, she set the navigation course to the Forest Replika, remembering what Tyler had said…

"_If you want the power to rescue Franz…come to the Forest Replika…I'll be waiting…_"

"Jacob, are you sure taking the Forest Replika is a good idea?" she asked aloud suddenly, a nervous edge in her voice as Jacob looked up in his NavSkid.

"No," he admitted without hesitation. "But the way I see it, we don't have a choice, now, do we?" he replied as he heard a chuckle in the recesses of his mind.

"_That's right, you don't_," Tyler grinned as Jacob scowled in irritation.

"Hey, Tyler, why don't you shut up?" he shot back as Aelita maneuvered the Skid into place in front of the Access Gate, Jacob realizing quickly that it was a much shorter distance to this Replika than he remembered as Aelita punched in the security code for the Replika's gate.

"Digital Key, engaged," she murmured softly as the customary beam of blue light shot out from the data port on the pilot's compartment of the Skid. After a moment, the Eye of XANA on the Access Gate blinked in response, and the tunnel opened with a creak.

"Here we go, everybody…" Jacob muttered as the Skid floated silently into the Forest Replika. Aelita navigated through the long tree roots and misty fog underneath the physical land of the Sector, coming to a stop at the nearest Tower as the gang crossed over the nearly invisible ground.

"Ungh!" Ulrich yelled as the lights in his NavSkid flickered and he was thrown to the far side of his compartment.

"We're under siege here!" Hunter screeched as he looked outside and saw a small legion of Tarantulas, led by Ari riding on the back of the Scorpion.

"I know! Docking," Aelita hissed as the Skid shuddered violently under the brunt of the attack. Immediately her fingers flew over the keys and she screeched "Energize!" as the Warriors were violently zapped out of the Skid to the base of the Tower, which they took cover behind for a brief moment as laser fire erupted all around them.

"I knew this wouldn't be easy!" Jacob hissed amidst the fray around them. "William, you and Aelita come with me! Ulrich, Hunter, Yumi, protect the Skid at _all costs_!" Jacob emphasized as they nodded.

"We'll do what we have to, just go!" Hunter screamed as he leapt around the Tower and summoned his shield while blasting fire pulses at the Tarantulas. Jacob nodded and summoned his Overwheel and Jeremy called up Aelita's Overwing and William's Overdisc. The trio looked back and saw Ulrich already engaged in a one-on-one sword duel with Ari and Yumi dancing around trying to avoid the Scorpion's tail swipes as she attempted to fight it. Jacob just sighed grimly as he took off at breakneck speed from behind the Tower, Aelita and William in hot pursuit as the purple-clad Warrior darted through trees and fog, sensing exactly where the Way Tower was located as he avoided obstacle after obstacle until…

"Jacob, LOOK OUT!" Aelita screeched as a storm of razor-sharp petals came screaming at his Overwheel. The telepath's eyes snapped open at the last moment and he dove up off of his vehicle, Taelia's barrage slicing it to digital bits as he flipped forward and landed safely on the forest floor below, Aelita and William diving off of their own vehicles as Jacob turned to face Taelia. The three Warriors had her surrounded on the single straight pathway, and William's sword crackled with energy as he drew it from the large sheath on his back.

"Jacob, _go_," William emphasized. "Aelita and I can handle this nuisance," he growled as she grinned.

"But…"

"GO!" William howled, cutting Jacob off as he launched at Taelia, who just laughed in that annoying, high-pitched squeal of hers, leaping deftly to her left and flinging her whip at the silver blur. William barely had time to lift his sword to parry the blow as Jacob stared on helplessly. He turned and looked off into the distance, knowing that the Way Tower was still ahead of him, and whispered a near-silent, "Be careful…" as he blinked tears that should not have been there away, plunging blindly into the fog towards the Way Tower…

Meanwhile…

"Hunh!" Hunter grimaced as he caught a laser from one of the Tarantulas in the side, his chest heaving as sparks danced around his stomach. He whipped around and flung a mighty spear of fire from his right hand and caught the attacking Tarantula square in the Eye on its head, glaring as it shrieked and exploded.

"Hiyahh!" Yumi shrieked as she flung her fans at the Scorpion's head, back-flipping away as it blasted a bolt of electricity from its mouth at the spot where she had stood only moments ago. She panted as her fans returned to her and she barely had time to snatch them out of the air before she had to dive out of the way of another tail swipe.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought!" she hissed as she used her Telekinesis to fling a boulder between herself and a barrage of lightning bolts being fired from the Scorpion. The stone shattered upon the impact of the electric pulses, and Yumi dove through the cloud of dust, barely landing a blow on the Eye on the Scorpion's chest before having to go back on defense…

"Had enough yet?" Ulrich hissed as he used one of his sabres to parry Ari's obsidian blade while slicing the second one towards his exposed neck. The boy laughed in that distorted, XANA-riddled tone as he leaned out of the way, Ulrich's katana coming within a paper's width of his neck as Ari leaped backwards and fired a quick lightning pulse from his palm, the golden orb impacting Ulrich square in the chest and knocking him backwards to the edge of the Sector floor as his chest danced with electricity.

"Never!" Ari hissed as Ulrich panted with exhaustion, his vision beginning to dance with blackness as he raised his swords again for what could be a final stand…

As Jacob approached the Way Tower, he let out a deep exhale, knowing why Taelia had appeared when she did as a deep navy, almost black, fog, began to cover the ground at his feet. He steeled his nerves as he ran forward, stopping about thirty feet from the Tower as Tyler appeared from the mist, standing between him and the Tower.

"This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?" he asked knowingly as Tyler began to chuckle menacingly.

"Now what would _ever_ give you that idea?" he asked cynically as he lashed his hand out in front of him, releasing a shower of energy shards that Jacob summoned his barrier to absorb before drawing his Energy Blade out of thin air a moment later. Tyler just laughed and drew his navy dagger from the sheath on his hip, the two rivals sizing one another up as Jacob's eyes flickered for the briefest of moments, and the minute Tyler saw that hesitation, he smirked and charged forward, releasing a barrage of energy shards ahead of him as Jacob's eyes steeled and he let out a menacing growl before flipping backwards…

"Wha…?" Tyler gasped as he sliced upwards with his dagger to find empty space where Jacob had stood, watching as his energy shards fizzled out after failing to impact anything. He looked around, dumbfounded as below him, Jacob used the grip spikes he had recently installed in his gloves to cling to the underside of the Sector floor. Tyler just shook his head and looked around again before turning around to face the Tower, and while the younger boy's back was turned, Jacob silently climbed back onto the forest floor, an Energy Field fizzling in his hand as he took aim at Tyler's back…

"Why…won't…you…die?!" Taelia shrieked as she battled in the sky with Aelita, the dueling pinkettes locked in hand-to-hand combat as Aelita's eyes sparkled with determination.

"Because we're on a mission. And we don't lose," Aelita retorted, cool as ice as she pushed back from Taelia's grip, doing an aerial backflip as she fired an Energy Field at the menacing harpie. Taelia deftly rolled out of the way, and then out of the corner of her eye spied William about to fire an Energy Pulse from his sword. She grinned as she threw her whip at the silver swordsman, immediately following up with a razor petal storm as William dropped his sword in time to deflect the whip which had come flying at him, but was shredded by the petals which he had no chance of avoiding…

"Unh!" William screamed as the force of the petal storm was enough to throw him against the side of the Scanner upon his materialization. He slumped to the floor in pain before opening his eyes slowly, his gaze marred with anger and the throbbing pain in his shoulder and back. "I will… kill her…"

Tyler barely caught the movement out of the corner of his gaze, but he grinned widely as he suddenly whipped around and fired a black energy beam from his hand, the laser hitting Jacob square in the chest as he flew straight backwards, landing on the path that jutted out away from the Tower's platform. He groaned as he staggered to his feet, black and blue sparks intermixing on his body suit as he attempted to blink the darkness from the edges of his vision.

"You really think you're gonna fool me that easily?" the darker brunette smirked as he charged another orb of black energy in his hand, watching with mild amusement as Jacob summoned a shaky Energy Field in his right hand. "Come on…just give up," Tyler coaxed with a growl. "You barely have enough strength to stand. Besides, if you do, I might let your friends leave here in one piece…" he hissed as Jacob's eyes suddenly stabilized and hardened in fury.

"NEVER!" the defiant Warrior screamed as he drew his Energy Blade, Tyler just shaking his head in amusement as he lengthened his dagger into a full-size blade and ran at Jacob, the two swords impacting with a heavy metallic thunk and sending a shower of purple and blue sparks cascading around the two adversaries, neither wanting to give an inch as both of their blades began to crack under the stress of battle…

"Agh!" Yumi screamed as she was caught by the Scorpion's tail. It wrapped around her left ankle and yanked her to the ground, pulling her in for the kill as Ulrich saw the movement out of the corner of his eye.

"YUMI! NO!" Ulrich cried as he flung his sabre at the Eye on the Scorpion's head, the blade impacting just before it was able to fire a lightning burst into Yumi's head. "Agh!" Ulrich spluttered as his cry was cut into a choking gasp. He looked down and saw Ari's blade punch through his stomach, and was devirtualized before he ever hit his knees. Yumi, by this time, had dove to her feet and faced Ari as the Scorpion exploded behind her into a pile of golden sinew and wires. Her eyes flickered as she looked Ari in the eye, and as she launched straight up and began to fling her fans at the golden ninja, he just smiled and shot a single bolt of electricity at her, using his sword to deflect the oncoming fans as his lightning bolt hit Yumi in the stomach, blasting her backwards into the rock face behind her and devirtualizing her before she could make a sound…

"Hungh…" Jacob hissed as he continued to force his blade against the navy blade of his former friend and now adversary. Tyler's eyes glistened with similar grit, albeit much darker, as suddenly, a mixed navy and purple beam of light shot up from the point where the two blades met and a moment later, a massive explosion sounded, enveloping the entire platform, including the Tower, in a cloud of smoke. Sparks crackled around the makeshift arena as the smoke slowly cleared, and once it had, anyone watching would have seen both boys on their feet, albeit barely, as both brunettes were shaking just trying to stay on their feet as they panted harshly and raggedly. As Tyler gazed at his target, his gaze suddenly began to go black, and as he lurched forward and stutter-stepped to stay on his feet, he never saw Jacob's hand shoot out from his waist, and by the time he realized what had happened, the warrior of XANA already had a violet dagger buried to the hilt in his chest, and his jaw fell open in a silent scream as he flew backwards, almost, it felt like, in slow motion, and vanished in a puff of black smoke a moment later. Jacob just grimaced as he straightened up, all pain from the battle forgotten as he dashed into the Way Tower. The rings below his feet lit as he dashed to the center of the platform, letting his head roll back as he levitated slowly up to the upper level. His feet touched the second platform with a soft scuff as he walked forward and placed his hand on the screen when it appeared.

JACOB

CODE:

CHIMERA

ACTION CONFIRMED. PROCEED WITH REPLIKA TAKEOVER?

Jacob nodded to himself as he watched the screens around him behave exactly as he had programmed them to, and once the load screen was a hundred percent ready, he hovered over the Yes button for a fraction of a second before placing his finger on the button and watching it glow bright blue under his touch.

CHIMERA PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY INITIATED.

COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN.

05:00…04:59…04:58…

"_Hold on, just a little longer, guys… It's almost done…_" Jacob thought, trying to telepathically transmit the plea to his friends as he gazed at the rapidly changing numbers on the countdown clock…

"Oh no…" Hunter moaned as he tried to back up further and felt his back touch the metal surface of the Skid. He looked at his feet, and then looked up as he watched Ari charge sparks around his blade, the two Tarantulas flanking him raising their cannons for an execution barrage…

04:02…04:01…04:00…

As Jacob sat inside the Way Tower, waiting for the five minute countdown to subside, a pair of Megatanks, one at the front of the Tower and one at the back, had arrived and were lined up to try and stop the process from completing. They opened their shells and charged their lasers, firing a moment later and rocking the Tower violently as the blue aura that had been generated around it when the countdown began started to flicker, threatening to change back to white as Jacob was jolted to the floor inside the Tower.

"Oh, great…" Jacob hissed. "XANA sent the bouncers and I can't do a thing about it…"

02:30…02:29…02:28…

"Ungh…"Hunter sighed as Ari flicked his blade and gave the signal, the pair of Tarantulas ripping more holes in him than a slice of Swiss cheese as they battered him with an execution-style firing barrage…

01:15…01:14…01:13…

"Ungh!" Jacob screamed as the Tower rocked again under the stress of another blow from the pair of Megatanks, the aura now flickering dangerously between blue and white as the countdown screen began to flicker in and out of static in front of Jacob's horrified eyes…

01:00…00:59…00:58…

"Fire!" Ari screamed as the Tarantulas unleashed a volley of laser blasts at the Skid. The shields flickered into action, but as Ari himself began to fire lightning pulses at the Skid, the shields rapidly depleted and began to crack under the continued stress of the attacks…

00:30…00:29…00:28…

"Gyahh!" Aelita screeched as she hit the ground, a volley of razor petals pinning her arms and legs to the Sector floor as Taelia grinned evilly, walking over to stand in front of the pinkette. She raised her whip, preparing to bring it down for the finishing blow…

00:10…00:09…00:08…

"Come on, come on, come on!" Jacob hissed as the Tower took another blow which nearly caused the screens around Jacob to wink out, but they returned after a long, nearly heart-stopping moment. "_One more blow and…_"

00:05…

"_So this is how it all ends…_" Aelita thought silently as Taelia prepared to lower her whip down across Aelita's chest…

00:04…00:03…

The Megatanks charged their lasers…preparing for one last blow…

00:02…

"It can't end like this!" Jeremy screeched from the Lab as Ulrich, Yumi, William and Hunter watched on in horror…

00:01…

Aelita closed her eyes as she prepared to feel nothingness, while the Megatanks glowed, ready to fire…

00:00. COUNTDOWN COMPLETE. INITIATING REPLIKA PURGE. PLEASE STAND BY.

Jacob's ice-blue eyes snapped open as he heard the beep that signified the countdown was complete, and a smirk crept onto his face as his eyes glittered.

"It's showtime…" he said in triumph.

Outside, the Tower began to glow bright blue as the aura solidified into a shell around the Tower, encasing it for a brief moment before blasting out in a massive pulse that vaporized the Megatanks instantaneously. The blue energy bubble continued to expand out from the Tower, and as it swept through the Replika, any monster of XANA's left was paralyzed, and then incinerated by the blue wave a moment later as it reached the brutes…

Taelia began to bring her whip down, but suddenly stopped, as if something was holding her back. Her eyes widened as she heard the distant shrieks, and Aelita turned her head just enough to see the oncoming blue bubble and grinned widely.

"Bye bye, little fairy," Aelita said singsongingly as Taelia shrieked and darted away, trying to fly fast enough to outrun the energy pulse, but a moment later, she was swept up in the blue light and screamed as she vanished in a puff of black and pink smoke…

At the Skid, the shields had just failed and Ari was lining his sword up to deliver the finishing blow when he heard the crackle of the oncoming energy pulse and turned just in time to be thrown against the Skid by the oncoming light, crying out in pain as he vanished in a puff of gold smoke a moment later along with the pair of Tarantulas, which exploded in a crackle of blue light…

"YES!" Jeremy shrieked as he leapt out of his chair and hugged Ulrich in celebration. "It's working!"

As the light reached the edge of the Sector and slowly fizzled out, the blue aura faded from around the Way Tower and its traditional white aura returned, changing after a moment to bright green as Jeremy took remote control of the Forest Replika's Supercomputer.

"Accessing power supply…and done! Jacob, finish the job!" Einstein said with a wide grin as Jacob walked to the control screen once more.

REPLIKA PURGE COMPLETE.

PLEASE PROVIDE VERIFICATION OF IDENTITY TO COMPLETE REPLIKA ACQUISITION.

Jacob placed his hand again in the center of the screen.

JACOB

PROCESSING…IDENTIFIED. REPLIKA ACQUISITION COMPLETE.

"It's done, Jeremy!" Jacob grinned as the auras of every Tower in the Replika began to glow green after a moment. "Bring us home!" he crowed as Jeremy's fingers raced over the keyboard.

"You got it!" the blonde replied. "Materialization!"

That night…

"Well, it took us a while, but Stage One of Operation: Free Franz was a complete success today!" Jeremy said triumphantly as he raised a glass of soda to make a toast. "Cheers to us!" he grinned as Jacob nodded, but Hunter, sitting on the opposite side of the room, glowered.

"We may have won the battle today, but the war is far from over…" he said darkly. "Now that XANA knows we can win, he'll be even more wary and assertive in his efforts to stop us. He doesn't like losing, and now that we've stripped some of his power away, he'll likely be even more dangerous…"

"We'll be ready though…" Aelita said softly, yet with all the finality in the world as she sipped her own celebratory soda. "Because I won't rest until we bring my father home."

"Nor will we," Ulrich agreed.

"Right," Jacob said with a solemn nod. "One down, and ten more to go…"

Within XANA's castle…

"_Ungh…_" the program hissed as he clutched his side, in pain after having one of his Replikas ripped away and weakened somewhat, but not anywhere near defeated. "_So they've won one round. There will be more. And I will be ready for them…_" he hissed as he reached out a hand to summon a shadowy blob of energy up from the floor in front of him. It shifted and morphed for several seconds before solidifying into a humanoid shape with white markings down its legs arms, and across its chest. The monster was greenish-black, and held a pair of swords, one emerald blade in each hand. Glowing from within its translucent black head, which was just a molded blob extending from its torso, was a sphere of white light with the Eye of XANA floating in the center of the sphere. The monster faced the throne and knelt down, bowing its featureless head to XANA as the shadowy boy smiled.

"_My creature…I have created you to stop the annoying brats who call themselves the Lyoko Warriors… When next they appear…stop them from gaining ground. Do whatever you have to… They cannot win…and I will find a way to make sure they don't…_" the program growled as he faded back into the darkness…

LW94: I still can't apologize enough. A new monster and new Replikas. What does it all mean? I'll tell the story soon. Sooner than soon. ASAP. I promise. I owe you all. I really do.

Next time…

**Episode 136: Gaining Ground**

As the Warriors continue their quest to rescue Franz, they come to the Mountain Replika in hopes of stealing another Replika away from XANA. Will they succeed or fail? Find out next time…on Code Lyoko: Unleashed…


End file.
